Lessons Learned
by wileycoyote
Summary: This story is my AU of Harry’s sixth year because I was hoping the death of Sirius might prompt more thought and maturity instead of anger and resentment. Harry spends the summer thinking then comes back to school with a new outlook. Eventual slash.
1. Chapter 1

**Lessons Learned**

This story is my alternative version of Harry's sixth year because frankly, I wasn't thrilled with a few aspects of JK's version. I like to think that the death of Sirius might prompt more thought and maturity instead of anger and resentment. I know I'm just a romantic or an optimist.

I am, of course, only playing with characters and situations conceived of by a much better writer than I. I am not writing for profit but the sheer bloody-minded need to get this out of my system. I post it only because my better half insisted.

Spoilers for all seven books included.

Pairings: HP/DM and RW/HG eventually — although if you are looking for steamy sex scenes, this isn't the story for you

Rating: M

* * *

**Part 1: Summer of Discontent**

_Now is the winter of our discontent_

_Made glorious summer by this sun of York;_

_And all the clouds that lowered upon our house_

_In the deep bosom of the ocean buried._

_--William Shakespeare from Richard III _

* * *

_Harry,_

_I know you don't like to talk about what's on your mind, but I really think you need to after everything that's happened. If you hold too much inside, you'll make yourself crazy over the summer. I was hoping this book could help you get some of it out without having to share with anyone if you didn't want to. _

_Write to me if I can help in any way._

_Love,_

_Hermione_

If this had been a normal summer, Harry probably wouldn't even have found Hermione's gift until he got back to Hogwarts. But this summer, Harry's trunk wasn't locked away in the cupboard under the stairs. When they got back to Privet Drive, all three Dursleys still looked a bit shell-shocked after their warning from Harry's reception party at King's Cross. Harry mentally thanked Moody's scary appearance and had hauled his trunk and Hedwig's cage up to his room before they thought to take it away from him. Since then, Uncle Vernon had been too busy working extra hours trying to get a promotion at work to take much notice of Harry. Harry was pretty sure he was also trying to pretend Harry didn't exist and Petunia and Dudley were taking their cue from him. Harry was taking the opportunity to avoid seeing them all as much as possible.

So, he came across the notebook from Hermione that first full day back while he was looking for something to read. He hadn't left his room except for trips to the kitchen and the bathroom since the afternoon before, and he was already bored and restless. He was hoping to find an old _Quidditch Weekly_ to reread, but all he found were schoolbooks and the notebook from Hermione.

Just great, he thought, this'll really help. He thought the sarcasm was almost Snape-worthy and then felt guilty for being so mean when Hermione was only trying to help. Well, he certainly had nothing else to do.

I don't know why I'm writing in this book. I guess mostly I'm just so bored. I want to be doing something. Fighting Voldemort. Preparing for war. Instead, I'm stuck back at the Dursleys with nothing to do and no one to talk to. I'm going to go crazy if I have to stay here all summer. I hope Ron can convince his parents to let me come to The Burrow.

Strangely, he felt a little better just for writing that down. But, of course, now he had nothing else to write.

_Nothing to do._

_Nothing to do._

_Nothing to do._

_God, this is pathetic._

He slammed the book closed and opened his Transfiguration textbook. Maybe he could find something interesting in there

#

A few days later, he was pacing his bedroom with sudden anger. He had been brooding about what happened at the Department of Mysteries. Why hadn't Dumbledore told him abut the prophecy or that Voldemort might try to use him to get it? Why had Snape broken off their Occlumency lessons? Why had Sirius gone there? Why hadn't he been more careful when he was fighting Bellatrix?

Harry felt the hair on the back of his neck standing up and heard a buzzing in his ears. Suddenly he realized that he was losing control of his magic. He really didn't want another letter from the Improper Use of Magic Office. He had to get control. He closed his eyes and counted to 10. When he opened them, he felt only marginally more in control. The notebook that Hermione had given him lay on the floor in front of him. What the hell, it was worth a shot.

_It's so unfair. It could have been prevented so easily. We barely got to spend any time together, and now he's gone._ _If only…_

An hour later, he looked up surprised to find how much time had passed. He wasn't angry anymore; he wasn't breathing hard or clenching his fists or sweating in frustration. Maybe Hermione had the right idea here.

#

I can't believe that bitch Umbridge got away with all she did. Who gave her the right to poke her nose in everyone's business and ruin everything? I can't believe anyone would believe her lies about Hagrid…

#

Stupid Snape always makes everything so difficult. Maybe if he had explained how the hell I was supposed to block him before he attacked, I would have actually learned something. But no, he has to….

#

I can't believe my dad and Sirius were such bullies. I can't believe Professor Lupin would let them get away with it. He had to know how awful it was to be picked on as much as I do. I don't think I would have liked any of them if I had known them while they were at Hogwarts. Did they really change when they got older? Can anyone change that much? Why did everyone like them if they….

#

How did I let it happen? If only we hadn't gotten separated from Ron, Ginny, and Luna. If only I had Petrified that Death Eater that Hermione had silenced before he hexed her. If only I picked the right door. If only we weren't there in the first place!! I'm such an idiot for letting him maneuver me right where he wanted me.

Harry slammed the notebook closed again. He had been writing in it off and on now for more than a week. It always made him feel better. But this was not something that was going to go away just by writing about it. He had killed Sirius just like he had killed Cedric. It was only dumb luck that Sirius was the only one dead among his friends that night. He only had himself to blame for being there in the first place.

_What can I do so that no one else dies? What can I do to try to prevent another disaster? _

_1. Trust Dumbledore. He knows more than I do. _

2. Talk to people when I'm having weird dreams or if I think something funny is going on. Ask for help from Ron, Hermione, McGonagall, anyone!

_3. Learn Occlumency. (How do I do this if Snape won't teach me?)_

_4. Don't let Snape get to me. Dumbledore wants us to get along, and he will kept treating me like a kid if I keep acting like an idiot every time Snape provokes me. Plus, I need as many people helping me as possible. Snape's a git, but we need him on our side. Who knows, maybe he'll unbend enough to teach me O again._

_5. Don't let Draco and company provoke me either. Fighting with the Slytherins is just a waste of time._

_6. Learn as much as I can. I'm going to need every hex, charm, spell, and potion there is to beat Voldemort. I need to start trying to learn rather than just trying to pass my classes. _

He sat back satisfied that he had a plan. Now, how did he make it happen? Suddenly, he needed some air. He hadn't been outside since he had gotten back from Hogwarts. He sat and listened. It didn't sound like Uncle Vernon or Dudley was home. He put on his trainers and walked quickly and quietly downstairs and outside. He didn't _think_ they were home, and Aunt Petunia rarely stirred herself to notice Harry without them around to goad her. But it never paid to assume too much when it came to the Dursleys. And it was always smart to stay far away from any place Dudley might hang out with his friends.

Twenty minutes later, he was still walking when he saw a sign for a bookstore ahead of him. Inspiration stuck. Maybe Snape wouldn't teach him Occlumency, but he could practice what he was supposed to be doing last year. Snape was always telling him to empty his mind. Harry was pretty sure that was what people were trying to do when they meditated. Maybe he could get a book on meditation that would tell him what to do.

He opened the door and a little bell jingled to signal his entrance. A woman that reminded him a little of Mrs. Weasley grinned at him from behind the front counter. Harry immediately felt better just looking at her motherly smile.

"Welcome to Constant Comment. How can I help you?"

"Um. Well, actually, I was wondering if you had any books on meditation."

Oh, certainly! There are books, tapes, CDs, even videos if you want. They're all upstairs. At the top of the stairs, take a left and then look for the 'New Age/Self-Help' signs. If you get to the coffee shop, you've gone too far."

Harry followed her instructions and found himself immersed in a huge selection of books and other paraphernalia. There were so many books that he was a little unsure what to buy. He didn't have a tape player, and he only had a little bit of Muggle money, so he was pretty sure he couldn't buy one. They looked dead useful though.

Meditation Made Easy_ will lead you easily and comfortably into a meditative state of mind. Meditation is a wonderfully easy way to revitalize your spirit, to let go of tensions, and to promote peace of mind. Sit back, make yourself comfortable, engage your imagination, and allow the gentle voice lead you into a relaxed and regenerative space._

Maybe he could ask Hermione to send him some money. He could always pay her back from his Gringott's vault when they got back to Hogwarts.

#


	2. Chapter 2

It turned out that Hermione was more than happy to send him some money once she found out what he wanted to use it for. She had even sent more than he asked for along with a note telling him to buy himself a pair of jeans that fit. He smiled to himself. Trust Hermione to worry about his clothes. True, he was still wearing Dudley's castoffs. They were huge on him, and he had to create new holes in the belts so his pants wouldn't fall. But mostly he wore his uniform at school, and he bought those himself in Diagon Alley. What did it matter that his jeans didn't fit him?

So, he went back to the bookstore and bought the tape he had wanted. Then, he asked the woman who had helped him the first day if she knew where he could buy something to play it in. She directed him to a small electronics store just a few blocks away where he found a portable tape player with headphones. He figured the Dursleys couldn't take it away from him if they couldn't hear it. He also bought enough batteries to keep it running for "months" according to the guy at the store.

When he walked out of the store, he noticed a small clothing store across the street. He felt the money still in his pocket and realized that if he didn't buy at least one pair of jeans, Hermione would be disappointed.

Soon, he found himself as overwhelmed as he had been at the bookstore. Traditional, narrow fit, tapered, straight leg, boot cut, short, long. He hadn't even looked at the ones with rips in strategic places. He had no idea what he wanted. He would have just grabbed something and gotten out of there, but the weight of Hermione's disappointment kept him there.

"You look like you could use some help," a voice behind him said.

He whirled. "Is it that obvious?" The voice belonged to a boy a few years older than Harry with short blond hair styled in spikes that were blue at the tips. Harry was wondering if he really wanted to ask for advice from someone with a hoop sticking out of his eyebrow. But, before he could think of how to politely put him off, the salesman had pulled a few pairs of jeans off of the shelves.

"You're looking for jeans, right?" He continued without waiting for a response. "You look like you need a good, basic pair of jeans." He looked Harry up and down. "Straight cut, I think, to make your legs look longer." Now he held a pair up near Harry's waist. "Do you like indigo or the lighter color?"

"Umm." Harry was completely overwhelmed. "The lighter ones," he said uncertainly.

Soon he found himself in a dressing room with six pairs of jeans in various sizes and styles and a few t-shirts because "that atrocity has got to go," according to Derek, the salesman. The first pair was so tight he couldn't bend over. Derek decided that Harry wasn't nearly as small as he looked in his overly large clothes and took all of the untried pairs back and replaced them with larger sizes. The next pair he tried on was much too long. The third and fourth were ok but "not quite," according to his audience. The fifth pair felt amazing as soon as he put them on.

He stepped out of the dressing room, and Derek whistled in appreciation. Harry blushed but was convinced to go back in and put on one of the t-shirts. He thought they were much too tight, but Derek and the girl behind the counter assured him they were perfect.

He checked his remaining money and found he had enough money for a pair of jeans and two t-shirts with a little to spare. So, he got one in red and one in green. He was sure Hermione would be pleased with how he had spent her money, and Derek was hard to say no to.

#

Later that night, Harry sat on his bed and tried to follow the instructions of the voice on his tape. This was harder than the voice made it sound. He kept finding his brain wandering into territory it had no business being. In frustration, he stopped the tape and opened the book that came with it. After the first two chapters, he realized he had a long way to go before he was any good at this. No wonder he sucked at Occlumency. Instead, he thought he would write to Hermione and tell her about his success at the clothing store.

After he finished her letter, he realized he hadn't written to Ron so far this summer, so he started a letter to him as well. It was harder to write about what he was trying to do to Ron, but he found he really wanted Ron to understand. He needed all the support he could get.

#

The next morning, Harry woke up, ate breakfast, and wrote in his journal. It had started to become a habit for him, writing about just about everything he did and thought. When he was done recounting what had happened the day before, he rolled over on his back on his bed. Staring at the ceiling, he started to feel restless. He knew he should try reviewing some of his textbooks to get started on his resolution to learn more. But, he really wasn't feeling up to it.

So, he snuck out of the house and started to walk. Again, he found himself outside the bookstore. He looked in and saw the Mrs. Weasley woman behind the counter. She smiled at the customer she was checking out, and Harry found himself smiling as well. Maybe he'd just go browse for a bit.

An hour later found Harry seated on a comfortable chair with a cup of tea on the table by his elbow and a book from the Self-Help section in his hand. He wasn't sure why he was reading this book or why he liked this store so much, but he wasn't going to ruin it by thinking about it too much. The author was trying to make a point about how everyone was only responsible for themselves. People couldn't really change how someone else felt or thought, so they shouldn't work themselves up trying to. It sounded a bit selfish to Harry, but he could see how there was a grain of truth to it.

Staring into space thinking about the implications of this theory to his relationships with Dumbledore, Snape, and Uncle Vernon, he noticed the woman from the counter come to the top of the stairs with a very large box. Before she could drop it on her toes, Harry jumped up and steadied it for her.

"Oh, thank you, my boy. You're too kind."

"Here, let me carry it for you."

She smiled at him gratefully and pointed him to the aisle that she wanted the box in. She looked so relieved that Harry spoke without thinking.

"Are there more boxes? I could help you with them. It's no trouble." Her eyes assessed his size, and Harry thought of Derek assuming he was smaller than he was because of his overly large clothes. "I'm stronger than I look," he smiled.

"Well, I really could use the help since Nigel hasn't shown up today." She directed him downstairs to a pile of recently delivered boxes. "The two on the left need to come up here so I can inventory and shelve them. The other three stay downstairs, but they have to get moved out of the way."

Harry started on the boxes that only needed to be moved a short distance. Connie, as she insisted he call her, directed him to the storage room. Then, before she could start to fuss, she was called away with a customer looking for a biography on Elizabeth I. By the time she came back, he was carrying the last of the boxes up the stairs.

"Oh dear! You must be exhausted. Let me give you some money for your trouble."

"No, I'm fine." It actually felt good to do something physical for a change. He convinced her to keep the money, so she pressed a refill of his tea and some biscuits on him instead, and he settled back down in his squishy armchair while she chattered to him as she inventoried and shelved the books in the boxes.

He learned that Nigel was the teenager who was supposed to be helping her part-time. The only other employee was Susie, who worked the café counter and made the pastries and other food they sold there. Nigel was supposed to be working 10 AM to 2 PM, but he hadn't shown up and it was already 11.

"And here's our morning delivery and no one but me to unpack everything. Well, I suppose I should really know better than to hire someone my Aunt Dottie recommended. Aunt Dottie is, quite frankly, not the best judge of character, as anyone can see from the four men she's chosen to marry. But, I just didn't know how to say no." She wound down and smiled at him. "I guess you don't really have any interest in all this do you?"

"No, no, this is way more fun than anything else I have to do." He smiled sheepishly when he realized that had come out differently than he had intended. "What I mean is, I'm interested. So, how did your aunt come to be recommending employees to you anyway?"

That launched her into a long tale about her aunt and the aunt's third husband and something having to do with leaking pipes. Harry wasn't sure he followed it completely, but that didn't seem necessary. He smiled and laughed along with Connie's story, and he felt as warm and comfortable as he did at the kitchen in The Burrow.

The next day, he left the house specifically to go to the bookstore. When he came in, Connie looked pleased to see him and greeted him by name.

Ooh, Harry, I'm so glad it's you. Could I ask you to do me a favor?"

"I guess Nigel isn't coming back?"

"No, and I would turn him away if he did."

Soon, Harry found himself carrying more boxes of books. When he put them down, he asked Connie how else he could help, and she taught him how to inventory the books as she shelved them. She had to stop whenever a customer needed help or wanted to buy something, so Harry soon had a large stack of books waiting for her to shelve. He looked over at Connie who was trying to locate a book for someone who didn't really know what he was looking for. The pleasant look on her face didn't falter, but Harry had to wonder if internally she was yelling and cursing.

Harry reached the bottom of the box he was unpacking and tucked the pen into the top of the clipboard. Ballpoints were certainly more convenient than a quill and ink. He looked at the books on the shelves in front of him. He was in the Biography section and noticed that the books were organized alphabetically by the name of the person the book was about. Soon he had the pile put away and was flipping through a book about Hitler and the Second World War. The parallels to Voldemort made him a bit uneasy, but he found himself unable to put it down.

"Oh, Harry, you're such a dear." Connie looked around and realized that all the books were on the shelf. Her eyes widened in shock.

Harry suddenly realized that he might have done something wrong, put the books away wrong. "Sorry, I just, umm, it looked like they went alphabetical. If I did it wrong, I can fix them."

Her eyes, if possible, got wider. "Harry, what are you apologizing for? This is wonderful." Now she was smiling widely, and the warm feeling was back in his stomach. "I don't suppose you want a job, do you?"

She laughed as she said this, so Harry wasn't sure if she was just kidding him. But suddenly, he didn't care. He wanted to work here, wanted to spend more time at this place and listen to Connie's stories and help put books away. "Yeah, I do. That would be great. You said Nigel worked 10 to 2. I could do that for the summer."

Connie looked pleased. "Well, that would be really wonderful. Come on back to the office and we'll fill out some paperwork."

An hour later, he walked out of the store with a promise to be back the next day at 10 sharp.

#

Harry found his days resolving into a sort of routine. He would wake up, sneak some breakfast after Uncle Vernon had left for the office, write in his journal, and then head to the bookstore. While he was there, he did a lot of inventory and shelving, but he also learned how to handle the cash register and started to be able to help people find the books they were looking for. It wasn't always fun. In fact, the customers tested all of his newfound resolutions about not letting people make him angry. But he was getting better at it each day.

He would eat lunch at the café and then spell Susie while she took a break. Working the café counter was more complicated than helping in the bookstore because there was so much unfamiliar vocabulary — cappuccino, latte, chai, — and that was just the drinks. He felt a little like he did when he had first learned he was a wizard. But Susie was really patient with him and was always willing to come out of the kitchen where she was eating to explain something to him again. Soon, he was working that espresso machine like a native.

After work, he would walk home and then read some. Sometimes it was his textbooks and other times it was books that Connie let him borrow from her private collection. He found himself reading histories and biographies and even some mystery novels. Harry had no idea why he was no longer required to cook every meal and do so many chores, but he was going to enjoy it while it lasted. After a tense dinner with the Dursleys, he would retreat to his room. There, he would write in his journal or write letters to Ron, Hermione, or Professor Lupin. Every night at 9, he would stop whatever he was doing, work on his meditation for an hour, and then go to bed.

With his first paycheck, he went back to the clothing store and made a few more purchases. Connie always made a fuss whenever he wore his new clothes, so he thought it would be a nice to have enough to get him through the week. Constant Comment was closed on Mondays, but that still left six days a week where he felt like he shouldn't be wearing Dudley's castoffs. He couldn't deny that he felt more confident dealing with the customers if he looked a bit less like a ragamuffin. It was easy enough to put the bigger clothes on top of his own clothes and then strip off the top layer when he was a few blocks from Privet Drive.

So, he hadn't had to answer any awkward questions from the Dursleys about where he was getting the money to buy new clothes. Of course, now that he was working, he didn't have to tell them about the money his parents left for him even if they did notice. Not that they had noticed that he had a job. Aunt Petunia was the only one in the house when he left and returned most days, and she seemed to be working very hard at pretending he wasn't there.

One day, Connie had a TV chef who had written a cookbook visit the store for a cooking demonstration and book signing. She asked Harry if he would mind working a little later and helping out with the demonstration. Harry had a bit of a Potions flashback when Mrs. Brooke asked him to dice some onions and celery.

"No, that's not a dice, sweetie. Here, let me show you what size I want them." Mrs. Brooke took the knife from him and chopped his chunks of onion into smaller pieces. "Like that," she said and handed him back the knife and went back to measuring out the rest of her ingredients.

Harry watched her place the recipe on a small holder to the left of the large bowl in the center of the table that had been set up for her. Then, she arranged her ingredients in a little row. A quick glance at the recipe showed Harry that they were the order in which she needed to add them to her bowl. Her measuring spoons were placed within easy reach, and anything that could be measured out before she started to cook was measured and put in separate little bowls. Harry wondered if this kind of ruthless planning and order would help him make a potion that turned the exact shade of pink it was supposed to.

Mrs. Brooke was a great cook, and she explained things in really easy steps — so even Harry felt like he could have made Poisson Dijon en Croute when she was done. Connie was thrilled with the number of people who had come to listen, and Harry had to carry a few extra boxes of books to the book-signing table when the demonstration broke up. After the crowd thinned out, Harry found himself talking to Mrs. Brooke about how she had organized everything before the demonstration.

"Oh, yes. I'm usually pretty careful in the kitchen, but you have to be extra prepared when you have an audience. I always read the recipe a few times the night before and get all of my ingredients together." She smiled ruefully. "I also like to come up with a few 'what if' scenarios in my head. What if the fish doesn't look good at the market the next morning? What if someone in the audience wants to know how I would cut the fat in the recipe? What kinds of substitutions could I make if I had to? You really have to do your homework!"

"But how do you learn what you can substitute and what ingredients match with other ingredients and everything else?" Harry was starting to find the lessons he could take back to Hogwarts more and more obvious. Maybe Mrs. Brooke could be the key to helping him keep below Snape's radar in Potions class.

"Well, I went to school for two years, so that helped." Again, the rueful smile. "But mostly, I have a few reference books that I just couldn't do without."

Harry wondered if there were reference books for potions. He knew that information wasn't in the textbooks he had been assigned. They were mostly specific potion recipes and their uses. Again, he found himself thinking about when he first learned he was a wizard and felt like he was learning a whole new language. Why don't they give you a dictionary, he thought to himself. He resolved to ask Hermione in his next letter if she knew of any reference books that would help him.

#

All in all, his summer was much better than he would have ever thought it could be. His aunt still gave him some chores to do on his days off, but it wasn't the undoable load it would have been in previous summers. He was out of the house working for large parts of the day and spent most of his evenings in his room and so saw very little of Dudley. Vernon, on the other hand, was either too busy trying to get that big order or too frightened of the Order's possible punishment to bother pulling Harry out of his room to yell at him for no good reason. They even allowed him to eat a reasonable amount of food. Harry still thought about Sirius and the debacle at the Department of Mysteries. But there was a lot less anger, and the pain wasn't as all-consuming as it had been. He even found himself remembering funny stories Sirius had told him and smiling at his memories.

His birthday came and went. Ron sent him some sweets from Honeydukes that came with some 'sample' from the twins and a cake under a stay-fresh charm from Mrs. Weasley. Hagrid, Dumbledore, Lupin, and Tonks all sent cards. The two owls that Hermione sent had to rest in his room for two days before setting back out. They had come with an enormous package strapped between them that landed with a loud _thump_ when they came to rest on the floor in Harry's room. When Harry opened it, he read the cover of the inevitable book, _Elements of Potions Made Elementary._ For once, he was thrilled with Hermione's preference for useful gifts.

The book was set up like an encyclopedia. If you wanted to know which kind of beetle you needed, you went to B and there was a concise explanation of various kinds of beetles and beetle parts used in making different kinds of potions and what properties they added to a potion. There were often references to other listings that further explained how beetles interacted with other ingredients or where to find them and how to store them. He didn't think he would be reading it front to back anytime soon, but when he pulled out his Potions text from the previous year, he figured out what he had done wrong on some of his projects.

#

Harry was pleased when he got his OWL results. He had failed History of Magic with a D (dreadful) but he had expected that since he had collapsed halfway through the exam. He had done better at Astronomy but still hadn't passed (P for poor). That was when Hagrid had been attacked, so it was also expected. Divination was his next lowest grade (A for acceptable), and he figured that just gave him an excuse to drop the dreaded class.

The rest were E's for Exceeds Expectations other than the one O for Outstanding in Defence Against the Dark Arts. He was mostly concerned with his Potions mark. He was fairly certain this meant he wouldn't be taking Potions next year. Even though he wasn't sure he still wanted to be an Auror, he still wanted to keep taking Potions. The self-help authors would probably say it was a masochistic urge for attention – positive or negative – caused by his unloved upbringing. Harry wasn't sure that he disagreed with them.

Luckily, Harry didn't have to agonize over it for long. The next day brought an official looking letter from McGonagall telling him which courses he was qualified to take and listing the summer assignments for each. Potions was on the list. Harry quickly chose the classes he wanted to take and returned it with the owl that was impatiently waiting for his response. Harry wanted to get it moving quickly because he really didn't like the nasty looks that the strange owl and Hedwig were exchanging.

As he watched the brown spot of the owl disappearing into the distance, he thought of his life at Hogwarts with longing. He looked out and wondered who had convinced Snape to let him in to his NEWTS potions class.

#

_Thanks for reading. The timeline will slow down a bit when he gets to Hogwarts, but that doesn't mean I'm likely to give you blow-by-blow accounts of each day as it happens. I concentrate on the stuff that furthers the story. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 2: Changing Seasons**

Soon, fall was drawing near. He was eager to go back to school, but he wasn't as impatient as he usually was. Connie was sorry to see him go and told him he was welcome to come back next summer.

When he caught sight of Ron and Hermione on Platform 9 and 3/4, he realized how much he missed seeing them every day. After Ron and Hermione finished with their Prefect duties, the three of them chatted and giggled all the way to Hogsmeade station as they caught up on any details of the summer they had hadn't shared in their many letters.

But when he saw Hogwarts as they approached it, Harry felt the responsibility of the prophecy fall back on his shoulders. Should he tell them the details of the prophecy? He still wasn't sure.

After the sorting ceremony, he dragged Hermione and Ron up to the boys' dorm. He pulled out the notebook that Hermione had given him, and he saw her pleased smile.

"When I got this, I really didn't think I would ever use it," he said to her. For Ron's benefit, he explained, "Hermione snuck this into my trunk before we left for the summer." He showed Ron the notebook and handed him the note she had stuck inside the front cover. "This is what really got me started thinking about all that stuff this summer."

"Cool." Ron returned the note and smiled at Hermione.

"OK," Harry continued, "I need your help. I realized this summer that I couldn't change what happened last year, but I could try to stop it from happening again." True, he was repeating much of what he had told them in his letters, but Harry felt better for saying it aloud. He turned to the list he had written on that important day and read it to them. "So, I want you guys to help keep me on track if I go too far off my plan."

Hermione nodded. "Anything you need," she said in an echo of what she had said in the letter.

"Sure, mate, whatever we can do to help." Ron grinned, and Harry grinned back at him.

"However," Harry said, "I have one more thing that I need to do with this book." With that he stepped over to a nearby rubbish bin, dropped it in and waved his wand at it. _"Incendio,"_ he muttered.

"Harry, I don't understand." Hermione had the look on her face that she usually saved for difficult Arithmancy problems.

"Well, I don't want anyone here finding it and reading it. There's a lot of personal information in there and some information that only Order members should really know. Plus, I feel like I need to make a break from the old me."

"Catharsis," Hermione whispered.

Harry recognized the word from some of the self-help books he had read over the summer. "Eh. Sure. Whatever. The point is that book is the old me, and if I carry it around with me, it will only remind me of who I was." He poked at the burning embers of his journal. He wasn't planning on putting out the fire until it was all well and truly burnt to ashes.

#

The first week of classes went more smoothly than usual. Some of the classes were smaller and most of them had people from each house since the students had picked which courses they wanted to continue taking since they got their OWL results. Harry had done all of his summer homework weeks ago and had even read parts of his new textbooks. He even managed not to get angry when Snape implied that Hermione had written his summer essay.

The new DADA teacher was American. Professor Jackson strode into the class and everyone fell silent. Harry wasn't sure how she did that. She wasn't scary like Snape or McGonagall, but somehow she demanded everyone's attention nonetheless.

After a brief introduction, she said, "I understand you have had a new Defense teacher each year of your Hogwarts careers. In light of the inevitable inconsistency of teaching methods, I would like to see if I can cover some of the things that might have gotten skipped over. I have no delusions that I am likely to be here next year, but I would like to be one of the few teachers in the 'competent' column in the history of the teachers who have cycled through this position."

"So, I am going to give you a brief quiz." Over the groans from the back of the class, she continued, "This will NOT count for any kind of grade. I am not above giving pop quizzes or surprising you by asking you to demonstrate skills you have learned when you least expect it." She paused until everyone started to shift uncomfortably. "However, this is not one of those times. I need to figure out what you know and what you don't know. So, take out a piece of parchment and write your name, year, and class time at the top. A question will appear on the board, and you will have 1 minute to read it and write your answer on your parchment. I will then erase that question and display the next one. Don't second guess yourself or waste any time. Just write down the first answer you think of and get ready for the next question."

After a half hour of "Name three wards that could be used to warn the residents of a house of people approaching who were not members of the family," "What spell would you use to repel _Incendio,_" and "What are three ways to recognize the difference between a wolf and a werewolf," Harry was tired but feeling pretty good about his answers. All that reading this summer had paid off, and Defense had always been one of his better classes. He was also glad that he had decided to use one the ballpoint pens he had brought back to Hogwarts with him. It gave him a few more seconds to answer since he didn't have to dip his quill into his ink.

"For the next class, I will have looked over your quizzes, and we will be doing some practical demonstrations and skills testing. For the rest of this class, I would like you to read the first chapter of your books quietly." Amazingly, everyone actually read quietly until the bell signaling the end of class.

#

A few days later, the skill testing was even more exhausting than the quiz had been. But, Harry found himself enjoying the fast pace and physical exercise. He was also pleased to note that the students who had been in the DA were faring much better than most of their fellows.

"Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, please wait after class for a moment," Professor Jackson announced as the bell sounded. Harry waited in his seat for the rest of the class to file out but avoided looking at Malfoy.

"The two of you are above and beyond the rest of the students in your year. I would like to set up an independent study for you. It would _not_ be an opportunity for you to skip class and not work. I would expect to see regular progress, and I expect you to move much faster through the work than the rest of your classmates. In addition, I understand you two have a long history of … not working together." Malfoy smirked and chortled, but Harry didn't react. "So, if you decide you want to do this, your grades will depend not just on your own progress but also your partner's progress. I will not have you two using this as an excuse to send each other to the infirmary. Let me know at the beginning of next class if you are interested." She turned away. "You're free to go, gentlemen."

#

Harry really didn't know what to do. Hermione thought he should do it. "It's a great opportunity to learn more Defense. Of course, you are going to do it," she said.

Ron thought that Malfoy would just take the opportunity to hex and spy on Harry. "You're crazy if you do it, Harry. I mean, it's Malfoy for Merlin's sake."

Harry agreed with them both. He decided he needed another opinion. He also thought it would be a good idea to try to feel out Malfoy and see if he could figure out what he was planning to do. He started with McGonagall. After his Transfiguration class, he made an appointment to talk to her after dinner. Then, he finished dinner quickly and waited outside the Great Hall for Malfoy and his cronies to leave.

"Malfoy, wait up."

Malfoy paused but didn't turn around. "Surely, you aren't talking to me, Potter?"

"Yes, actually." Harry hurried on before Malfoy had a chance to hurl an insult, "I just wanted to know what you were planning on telling Professor Jackson."

Malfoy turned to face Harry and his friends kept going towards the dungeons. "That's none of your —" Malfoy cut himself off probably realizing it was, indeed, Harry's business. Harry decided that he wanted to let Malfoy know that he wasn't looking for an opportunity to trip him up, so he didn't respond. After a pause, Malfoy continued, "Why should I tell you?"

Harry took a deep breath and decided it was worth the risk. "I'd like to do the independent study, and I'm willing to try to work together if you are."

Malfoy's eyes narrowed, boring into Harry as if he could figure out Harry's agenda just by looking at him. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because I'm the good guy, Malfoy, duh! The guys with the white hats aren't the ones who shoot people in the back." Harry smiled at his own joke and hurried on before Malfoy took him too seriously. "You have no reason to believe me, Malfoy. But I don't have any reason to believe you either. We just have to decide if it's worth the chance." They looked at each other for a few minutes, neither saying anything. Then, Harry turned to go up the stairs toward McGonagall's office.

"Gryffindors are the risk takers, Potter. We Slytherins only take risks if there is something in it for us." With this retort, Malfoy headed down to the dungeons.

Harry reached McGonagall's office before she had left the Great Hall, so he waited outside.

"Mr. Potter, good to see that you are prompt," McGonagall said as she approached him. "Professor Dumbledore has requested we join him in his office."

Harry had long gotten used to Dumbledore's seeming ability to know everything that went on at Hogwarts. Still, Harry realized this request might have nothing to do with his Defense independent study.

"Licorice whip," McGonagall announced to the gargoyle guarding the stairs to Dumbledore's office. She waved Harry ahead of her on the ascending stairs.

Dumbledore looked up as they came in the door to his office. "Harry, Minerva, please sit down. I suppose we don't need tea since we all just came from dinner. Sherbet lemon?"

"No thank you, sir." Professor McGonagall also shook her head no.

"Well, I imagine you are wondering why I asked you two up here." He paused and looked at them both over his glasses, blue eyes twinkling. "I understand, Harry, that Professor Jackson has given you an opportunity for an independent study in place of your usual Defense class."

"Yes, sir. But it's with Malfoy, and I'm not sure if it's a good idea."

"Malfoy!" McGonagall sounded surprised and dismayed. "I knew that she said she had two students who could benefit from a more intensive study program, but…" She trailed off.

"Yes, indeed, I'm sure we all see the possible problems with this situation. However, I don't think we should automatically dismiss it."

"I'd like to learn more Defense. I'm going to need it." Harry cut himself off since he wasn't sure what McGonagall knew about the prophecy. "But, Professor Jackson said that our grade would depend on both of our progress, so Malfoy could really sabotage me if he wanted. Plus, he could use the opportunity to learn how to beat me in a fight and pass that information along."

"Yes, that could be awkward. However, I think that some things have changed for Mr. Malfoy over the summer. I don't believe we need concern ourselves that the information he gathers will go to anyone of importance."

There was a pause as both McGonagall and Harry tried to decipher what it was that Dumbledore knew that he wasn't sharing. McGonagall recovered more quickly. "That's all good, but it doesn't mean that Mr. Malfoy won't take the opportunity to hurt Harry."

"I'm not worried about getting hexed. I'm pretty good at defending myself. But, if we spend our time fighting each other, we aren't going to learn much useful Defense."

McGonagall's eyebrows shot up as if she didn't believe Harry's only concern was with how much learning was going to happen. Harry supposed he couldn't expect everyone to know that he had turned over a new leaf with his studies, but that didn't mean that her skepticism didn't hurt.

"I was just talking to him about it, and I think he's as wary as I am. I'm wondering what would happen if we start studying together but we can't get along. Would we just get put back in the regular class, or would we be stuck for the rest of the year?"

"You spoke to him?" McGonagall looked even more skeptical.

"Well, I stopped him outside the Great Hall just now to try to figure out what he was planning. He didn't actually tell me anything, but he didn't try to hex me either."

"Well, well, that is a good sign. I think, in light of this new development, it would be a shame to let this opportunity pass you by."

#

A few days later, Harry and Malfoy were alone in an unused classroom not far from their usual Defense classroom. They had parchments with all of the questions Professor Jackson had asked the first day of class and both of their own parchments, which she had returned after she had finished marking them. Since their knowledge and skills were mostly complementary, she had instructed them to start going over questions they had missed and teaching each other what they needed to know.

"For the first week, I will expect you both to report to my office after dinner on the night of each class. If I am satisfied that you are working together, we will cut it down to once a week."

They had been sitting there for 15 minutes quietly reviewing their answers. Harry could feel the silence between them growing more uncomfortable and impenetrable. He knew one of them was going to have to cut through it soon, or they would have no progress to report to Professor Jackson.

"Malfoy, what did you say to question 9?" he tried to ask casually.

"_Protego,"_ Malfoy answered without looking up.

"Hmm, me too. She's got a note here that says, 'OK, but not your best bet.' I guess we'll have to ask her what she means by that." Before the silence could descend again, Harry continued, "How about 16?"

"_Aguamenti._" Malfoy was still studying his parchment as if it held all of the mysteries of the universe.

"I should have thought of that. I was trying to come up with something that would protect against _Incendio_ by making sure you wouldn't catch fire in the first place." Harry smirked.

Malfoy smirked back, and Harry was surprised to see that he didn't appear to be making fun of Harry. "If you move fast enough, any shield charm should stop it."

"Yeah, but then it might bounce off and set the drapes on fire or something."

"So, you were trying to come up with something that would make you flame retardant?" Malfoy sounded a bit surprised and confused. Harry wondered if it was because it was a silly idea or because there was an obvious charm that he wasn't thinking of.

"Well, yeah," he said sheepishly. Then, more aggressively, "I think it would be a good defense."

"I think it would be bloody useful, especially if it would last for a few hours so you could cast it before a fight." Malfoy looked at Harry for a few seconds as if trying to figure him out. Somewhat reluctantly, he said, "I didn't really believe her when she said we might learn something from each other. I never would have thought of that."

Harry was surprised by Malfoy's candor and thought it would be a good idea to offer some honestly in return. "Well, at least you wrote something down that would help. All I've got is a blank space because I didn't even think of _water_."

"Well, Slytherins are nothing if not practical."

#

Harry supposed he should have known it couldn't be that easy. The first class had gone well. Two days later, they were in class again, but it wasn't going as smoothly.

"Who died and left you in charge, Potter?"

"I'm not trying to take charge, I just thought we should do something other than read our textbooks. I can do that in my common room."

"Really, I didn't know that you knew how to read a book that didn't have pictures of Quidditch players in it."

"So, I guess I'm just as good at Defense as you are without having to study."

"Yeah, well, not all of us get special treatment."

Harry snapped his mouth closed. He really didn't want to get into a useless argument. "Whatever, Malfoy." He turned back to his book and pretended to read while going through one of his meditation exercises. Five minutes later, Harry was calmly looking up answers to some of the questions he hadn't gotten correct on the quiz, but Malfoy still looked put out. Harry was pretty sure it wouldn't be wise to suggest they work on anything else. He didn't think Professor Jackson would be impressed with their progress today.

#

Harry was right. "I'm very disappointed in you both." Professor Jackson paused and looked at Harry and Malfoy. "I know that there is a lot of history between you, but it cannot get in the way of what you are supposed to be doing. I am going to have to evaluate whether or not you can be trusted to continue with this independent study. For now, you have another chance to make a go of it on your own. I suggest you take it."

Harry wasn't really sure what that meant, but he knew he wanted to come up with a plan to make the independent study work.

#

_Thanks for reading and for all the great reviews. More soon!_


	4. Chapter 4

Malfoy and Harry were back in the classroom they used for their independent study for their next class. The tension level in the room was high, and they had just gotten there. Harry knew something had to be done or every class would be a battle.

"OK, we both want this to work or else we wouldn't have agreed to it," said Harry. "But, frankly, expecting us to dump five years of hostility overnight is a bit unrealistic. So, I've been thinking that what we need to do is agree to some ground rules that will make these classes go smoother. What do you think?"

Malfoy raised one eyebrow skeptically and looked at Harry. "What kind of rules?"

"Well, for example, we could agree to take turns setting the agenda. One day, you suggest what we do, the next, I do. Within reason, the other person would have to just go along with whatever the person in charge decided to work on that day."

"Who would go first?" Malfoy was still skeptical, but he couldn't disagree that this sounded like a good idea.

"We could come up with some kind of random way to pick. Or, we could say that this was my turn as I am setting the agenda of working on ground rules. I don't care."

"OK, I can agree to that."

"Do you have any other suggestions for ground rules?"

"I think that we should agree not to bring up You-Know-Who and everything connected to him while we are in this room for this class."

Harry thought about that for a minute. It would be hard for him to take a class that he thought of as preparation for fighting Voldemort and the Death Eaters without talking about them. But, he could see that talking about it with Malfoy generally ended up with name calling and fighting. "Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. I also think that we should agree to respect each other's friends and family. No ridiculing or name-calling during our class time."

"But that's no fun."

"Yeah, it's so much fun getting into fights with each other," Harry replied sarcastically. "You make fun of Ron or Hermione, and I reply with something about your father. Two seconds later, someone's been hexed or punched." Harry paused a minute to let that sink in. "Seriously, if we are going to try to work together, we have to avoid the stuff that is going to draw us into a fight."

"Yeah, yeah." Malfoy was reluctant still. "I can see what you mean. I don't have to like it because, after all, your friends are so easy to make fun of. But I'll agree not to do it while we are supposed to be having this class." He smirked. "Of course, outside of this class, they're fair game."

"OK, anything else you think we should add to the list?"

"Is there actually a list?"

"No."

"What assurances do I have that you are going to follow the rules? You're always getting away with breaking them. I think we need to write them down and devise some kind of curse to make sure whoever breaks the rules get punished."

Thinking of Marietta Edgecombe and Hermione's curse on the DA member list, Harry wasn't sure that they wanted any kind of punishment. "How about we write them down, make copies for both of us, and then give our words on it? I don't want to write some kind of curse into breaking the rules because habits are hard to break sometimes. I don't want to start coughing up slugs because I say that something wouldn't work in a fight against Voldemort."

"I guess."

"Do you really want to break out in a nasty rash if you refer to Ron as the Weasel?"

"I can see your point," Malfoy said reluctantly, "but I still think there should be something. You Gryffindors are always getting away with breaking the rules, and we Slytherins get in trouble for it."

"That is so the opposite of truth, Malfoy. I'm not saying I haven't broken my share of rules and gotten away with it. But, you can't pretend you don't get away with stuff when you've spent the last five years sabotaging my potions and getting house points for it." Harry paused. He supposed Malfoy had a point. They needed some kind of objective party to keep track of when either of them broke the rules. But he still didn't want a curse attached to breaking the rules. "Wait, I've got it. I think I read about a charm we could use. It'll keep track of any rule breaking, but there won't be an automatic hex attached." He dived for his Charms text to look for the reference he was remembering.

"So, we write down the rules, and this charm somehow tracks when we break the rules. Then what?"

"Well," Harry said distractedly as he looked for the charm, "we could agree to some sort of punishment for the person with the most infractions at the end of each month."

"Hmm. Like what?"

"I don't know! Why do I have to come up with all of the ideas?" Harry was getting a bit exasperated with Malfoy's passivity. Sure, he was agreeing to all of this, but he wasn't contributing much.

"Geez, Potter, what's your problem? I think that's more emotion than I've seen you display all year." Malfoy paused and looked thoughtful — not that Harry noticed as his nose was still in his Charms text. "Come to think of it, how come you're always so damn calm these days? You used to be so easy to tick off."

"I have better things to get upset about than your attitude, Malfoy." Harry still sounded distracted. "Why don't you start writing down the rules while I try to find this charm?"

"Yeah, that decides it. This is your first turn at being in charge. Next class, I get to order you around." Malfoy was grumbling, but he was also pulling out some parchment, ink, and a quill. The room fell silent for a few moments except for the scratching of Malfoy's quill on the parchment.

Shortly, Harry exclaimed, "Eureka! I've got it. It says here that this charm is sometimes used in wizarding contracts to keep track of any infractions to the agreed upon terms. That sounds like exactly what we need."

"Well, I've got the three written down that we had already discussed. Anything else to add?"

"Hmmm. The only other thing I can think of that would really foul us up is if one of us started not showing up for no good reason. So, how about we each agree to attend each class — barring emergencies."

"K. Here you go." Malfoy handed over the parchment and Harry read it over.

"It says here we have to be really careful with the wording because the charm has to know exactly what to consider infractions." For the next several minutes, they argued over the wording of the rules and ended up having to write them over since they had become illegible with all of the crossing out and scribbling in the margins.

"OK. Now the book says we should both sign our names to the contract, then we put the charm on it and duplicate it so we both have a copy." Harry looked at Malfoy. "Ready?"

"Wait! We never agreed about what would happen to the person with the most infractions. Shouldn't that be in the contract?"

"Do we want to put that in writing or do we want to agree to something after the fact?"

"I don't trust you, Potter. You'll slime your way out of it if we don't write it down."

"That is so rich coming from you." Harry found himself amused by Malfoy's attitude. This was surprising, since he would have been angry about it last year. He guessed his nightly meditation ritual was keeping him calmer. "How about we agree that whoever has the most infractions at the end of the month gives up a day being in charge for every infraction more than the other person? That way, the person behaving the worst really gets punished for how much worse he's behaving."

"That could work." Malfoy started writing. This time, he knew they would have to argue about the wording, so he starting writing on the first draft of the rules. That way, they could then write out the final version on the good copy of the rules they had waiting.

A few minutes later, they had it all worked out and had signed, charmed, and duplicated the rules. "Well, that took longer than I expected. But, I'm glad we did it. We've only got a little bit more time before the bell rings. How about we practice something simple like _Impedimenta_."

"_Impedimenta_? You must be joking."

"Look, Malfoy, even basic stuff can be really useful in a fight. Plus, it can be useful for honing your reflexes."

"Fine."

"So, how about you banish — um — this book towards me. I'll stop it and then banish it, and you'll stop it. We'll go back and forth faster and faster practicing our reflexes."

Like Harry said, it was simple, but that's just what they did for the next 15 minutes. They went back and forth and the book started moving faster and faster between them. Soon, both of them were tense and sweating a little from the magical effort and were smiling at the fun they were having challenging the other to faster and faster blocking and banishing. When the bell rang, they were both a bit disappointed that their game had to end.

"Well, that was invigorating," Harry said as they packed up their bags.

"Yeah, it was." Malfoy looked a little surprised but mostly pleased.

This might work, Harry thought to himself.

#

Professor Jackson was pleased to hear that they weren't fighting. But, she was a bit concerned that they hadn't done much actual work. By unspoken agreement, neither Malfoy nor Harry mentioned the agreement to her. Harry wasn't sure why Malfoy wasn't mentioning it, but Harry knew why he wasn't. He wasn't planning on mentioning it to anyone but Ron and Hermione because he didn't want to risk losing the tenuous truce he and Malfoy had going. He figured it was worth disappointing Jackson this once if it meant that future sessions went well.

After the meeting with Jackson, Harry went back to Gryffindor to finish his Transfiguration homework. The workload was much larger in each subject this year. Luckily, he was taking a few less classes. Just Potions, Defense, Transfiguration, Charms, and Care of Magical Creatures. Ron thought he was crazy for continuing with Potions, which he had dropped as soon as he could. Ron had Defense, Transfiguration, Charms, and Care of Magical Creatures. Hermione was taking all of the classes Harry was plus Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. Harry smiled to himself. Once again, he was the creamy Oreo center of their odd trio.

At that thought, Harry found himself in the common room looking for Ron and Hermione. They were in a corner of the room. As usual, Hermione had a stack of books with her, and Ron looked like he was trying to wheedle some help from her on the Transfiguration homework that he was only starting now.

Harry stopped next to them for a moment. "Hey guys, I'm back."

"Harry, I didn't have a chance to ask you about your Defense class during dinner. How'd it go?" Hermione might have been checking up on him to make sure he was behaving, but for once her prying gelled perfectly with his wishes.

"How about I go get my books and then we can all go the library and I can tell you all about it on the walk over?"

He ran up to his room and grabbed his bookbag and some of the other books he would need to finish his homework. Once he put the final touches on his Transfiguration essay and copied out a clean copy, he needed to finish his Potions reading and practice the latest Charm they had learned in class and then write an essay about the difference between delimited and non-delimited charms and their respective uses. He had a full night.

He figured that the easiest way to explain about Defense class was to show them the agreement he and Malfoy had come up with, so he pulled it out of his bag. He explained a little of how he had decided that he and Malfoy needed to have a few ground rules set and then he just handed the parchment over. Hermione stopped walking as she started to read the parchment. Ron, seeing her surprise, quickly started to read over her shoulder.

"Wow, mate, I can't believe he signed that thing." Ron was looking a bit gobsmacked.

Hermione, who was still reading, was puzzled. "Did you put a curse on the contract?"

"God, no, I don't need pustules for talking about how something wouldn't work in a fight against a group of Death Eaters." Harry smiled. "No, we decided that we would track any infractions, and the person with the most at the end of a month loses chances to be in charge. I'm hoping his desire to order me around will keep him in line."

"What did Professor Jackson say?"

"Actually, we didn't tell her."

"Harry!" Now, Hermione was disappointed. He wasn't supposed to be keeping secrets anymore.

"I know, Hermione. I just didn't want to blow the truce by telling her that we needed a written agreement to get along."

"Did you even talk to anyone about the spell you used to track infractions or have anyone else check for unknown consequences to this contract?"

"No." Now that she mentioned it, he realized he probably should have gotten a second opinion before he signed his name. But, he couldn't have done that without ruining what little trust they had established. "How about this: I'll talk to McGonagall about it tomorrow during her office hours and see if she sees anything wrong. She won't talk to Malfoy about it since I'm coming to her as my head of house, so he doesn't need to know that I didn't trust him."

"OK. After all, it's not like you have a curse on the contract."

"Not that you know of," Ron mumbled under his breath. Harry and Hermione glared. "Well, honestly, I don't know why you are pussyfooting around it. Malfoy could have done something to the contract that you don't know about. It's all well and good not to fight with him, but that doesn't mean I have to trust the little ferret."

"Ron, it was my parchment, and I was the one that put the charm on it to track infractions."

"Oh." Ron looked puzzled for a minute. "How'd you know it?"

"Read it over the summer." Ron goggled at him. "Well, honestly, like I had much else to do other than read my textbooks!" Ron didn't look convinced. Hermione looked at Ron with that "I told you someone other than me did school work over the summer" look on her face. Creamy Oreo center.

#

Harry knew that he needed to everything possible to make sure the agreement worked and he and Malfoy continued to work together. So, when he walked into the classroom they used for their class, he figured a little humility would go a long way. "What are we doing today, Professor?" Harry blinked innocently at Malfoy and took a seat.

Malfoy looked surprised for a moment, but then his Malfoy mask was back in place. "I was thinking about the test Jackson gave us and how many questions were focused on counter curses. Also, I was thinking about how quick thinking under pressure is really one of the most important things in a fight. So, I believe that taking some of the pressure off and practicing our speed and knowledge would be useful."

"So, how do we take the pressure off?"

"We don't actually throw any hexes."

"Huh?"

"It's very simple: We put down our wands and don't actually throw any curses. I say a curse, you say the counter and then another curse, I say the counter and then another curse, etc, etc. Neither of us is ducking or actually in any danger of getting hurt. But, we practice quickly coming up with counter curses."

"OK. This could work. That way, in an actual situation, we aren't spending much time thinking about what the counter curses are because they will become second nature. More time for strategy and such." Harry smiled.

"Ready?"

"One second." Harry put his wand up his sleeve and settled into a comfortable position at the desk he had sat in. "Ready."

Malfoy smirked. "_Incendio_."

"_Aguamenti_." Harry spoke quickly but certainly didn't take offense at Malfoy's pointed reference to their conversation from their first class. He figured he should take it as an olive branch since it was from a time when they were getting along, and Malfoy acknowledged they could learn from each other. "_Expelliarmus_."

On and on they went, faster and faster. They didn't exchange insults or stop to ask questions. Curse, counter, curse, counter. Occasionally one of them would say something out of the ordinary and take the other by surprise for a moment, but that didn't stop them. Curse, counter, curse, counter. Harry started to wonder if Malfoy was ever going to end this or if he was waiting for Harry to yield. He'd rather eat the sorting hat than yield. Plus, this was getting to be fun. Curse, counter, curse, counter. Both boys started to get a bit out of breath; they spoke faster and faster and started to forget to breath regularly. Curse, counter, curse, counter. A small beeping noise sounded from Malfoy's side of the room.

"OK. Stop. We've got 20 minutes before the end of class. Shall we discuss some of the more unusual things that stumped each other?"

"What was that beeping?"

"I set an alarm of sorts so we wouldn't run over."

"Ah. Yeah, what was that thing you used after my _Furnunculus_? I didn't recognize it.

"Slashing hex."

"Ouch. So, if I didn't block it or dodge it, I guess I could have taken a second to heal the slashes or at least stem the bleeding a bit." It sounded more like a question, and Malfoy nodded. "Would _Episkey_ work?"

They continued on in the same vein, reviewing the more obscure curses, until the bell rang. Harry realized that he had really learned a lot as well as practicing his speed. In the interests of keeping classes working this smoothly and profitably, he took a moment to tell Malfoy. "That was a really useful practice, and I wouldn't have thought of it. Maybe we can do it again periodically."

Malfoy smiled a little and then said, "Yeah, that would be good." He paused a moment before saying, "I'm glad you liked it."

#

_A special thank you to my partner and beta, Lisa725 __I hope you are all continuing to enjoy my story. I'll post more in a few days! _


	5. Chapter 5

"Class, prepare the potion recipe on the board. No talking, no delay." Snape spoke the words as he swooped into class. He reached the front of the room and spun on his heel. "Now."

The class immediately started working. Most people got up and went to the storeroom to pick up the supplies they needed for the potion. Harry read over the recipe carefully before he did anything. He noticed that one of the ingredients was monkshood, and he couldn't remember if it was exactly the same thing as aconite or required a slightly different preparation. He knew that information wasn't in the textbook because he had done his reading. So, he pulled out his _Elements of Potions Made Elementary_ and looked it up. He was just putting the book back when a shadow fell over his desk.

"Mr. Potter, what are you doing?"

"Looking up something about the ingredients before I start, sir."

An eyebrow went up. "In what?"

Harry held up the book he had been putting away. "Perhaps you should get started actually _making_ the potion if you expect to finish before class is over. Unless you'd like to finish tonight during detention?"

Harry automatically started the meditation exercises that allowed him to stay calm and started toward the storeroom without responding to Snape's gibe. He gathered the ingredients he needed and arranged them on his desk. He started by measuring everything out and putting aside the remaining ingredients. Next he reread the recipe and made sure he was familiar with how it should be done. By the time he started, some of the rest of the class was halfway done. However, Harry had learned that if he didn't take his time, he got it wrong. He figured he would rather have his potion unfinished but correct. As he stirred the first ingredients together, he became aware of someone watching him. He looked and realized it was Snape. For once, he wasn't frowning and sneering.

Instead, he looked puzzled.

#

Harry had been thinking about what he and Malfoy could work on in Defense class since the last time they'd met. He wished he could think of something as interesting as Malfoy had. But mostly, he kept going back to that first DA class from last year. He figured he should go with his instincts. "I want to work on _Expelliarmus._" Harry waited for the inevitable scorn from Malfoy and was surprised that his only reaction was a raised eyebrow. Deciding not to push his luck, Harry went on, "A quick, powerful disarming spell can be vital in a battle situation. Too many people ignore the basics because they think they aren't useful."

"I guess I see your point. Snape threw Lockhart across the room with it during second year."

"Exactly!" Harry was excited to see that Draco was willing to keep an open mind. "OK, we'll clear a space and stand across from each other. We'll take turns. The first couple of times, the one being disarmed won't attempt to stop it. Just watch the other's technique and point out anything done wrong or whatever. After a bit of that, the one being disarmed will try to hold on to his wand by whatever means. Then, we can have a conversation about techniques that work and those that don't. OK?"

"Sounds like a plan."

They moved some desks out of the way and transfigured some cushions in case anyone got thrown across the room.

Harry looked at Draco as they faced each other and raised their wands, "You first."

"_Expelliarmus_." Harry's wand came neatly out of his hand but dropped about midway between he and Malfoy.

"Nicely controlled. But do you see where my wand landed? You need more power behind it, or you need to keep your attention on it to direct the wand into your hands." Harry paused, but decided that this was why he wanted to work on this. "Try pointing your want more like this." He demonstrated the position that worked best for him. "All right, my turn. Ready?" At Malfoy's nod, Harry cast, "_Expelliarmus!_"

Malfoy's wand flew across the room and hit the wall behind Harry, and Malfoy got thrown back a few steps. "OK, that was definitely more powerful than mine. But, your pronunciation is off a bit. You don't want to get sloppy there, or it could have unforeseen consequences — especially with that kind of power behind it."

Harry smiled. "Does it seem like every class is a lesson in why Jackson thinks that our skills and knowledge are complimentary?"

"Yeah, sometimes it's kind of spooky." Malfoy smiled back at Harry, and they both chuckled a bit.

"Alright. Back to work. Your turn."

#

Harry was moaning in what sounded like pain. The noise woke up Ron. He looked over at Harry as he tossed and turned in bed. He got up, leaned over, and shook him by the shoulder. "Harry, wake up. You're having a nightmare."

Harry woke up suddenly and completely. "Ron, what's up?"

"You tell me. I thought you didn't have those kinds of nightmares anymore."

"What? Oh, I don't." Harry reached for his glasses as Ron sat down at the foot of his bed.

"You were groaning and tossing and turning. It certainly looked like a nightmare." Harry blushed as he remembered what he had been dreaming about. "Oh, it was _that_ kind of dream."

Harry realized to his dismay that he was still blushing. "Shhhh." Well, that was practically an admission. He quickly put up a silencing charm because he knew by the glint of amusement in Ron's eyes that he was in for some ribbing, and he didn't want to wake up the rest of their friends.

"So, who was it? Was it someone here?"

"I'm not telling you anything, Ron."

"Come on, Harry, tell me about it. Is it anyone I know?"

"Yes… no. Ron, just quit it. I don't want to talk about it."

"So, it is someone I know. Lavender? Pavarti? Ooh, is it someone from another house?"

"No," Harry answered before he thought about it. "Ron, stop it." Harry was starting to feel frantic, and he just kept _blushing_. He had to get Ron to shut up.

"Padma? It wasn't Luna, was it? 'Cause that would be a bit weird."

"Ron, would you stop it, he doesn't even go here anymore." Harry realized what he had said and dropped his head into his hands.

"Oh." Ron looked surprised for a minute, but then his forehead creased in puzzlement. "But what about Cho? I thought you liked her."

"I do. Did. Merlin, I don't know." Harry peeked up at Ron with trepidation.

"You don't know?" Ron was giggling now, but he tried to stifle it when he saw the pained look on Harry's face. "Harry," Ron reached forward and grabbed Harry's hands and pulled them away from Harry's face. "I don't care who you like: girls, guys, house elves, whatever. OK, if it were house elves, I would have to tell you never to tell me anything about it, ever. I mean, gross." He paused and looked at Harry with a serious look on his face. "But you'd still be my best mate. Nothing is going to change that."

"Really?"

"Really." Now, Ron broke out in a sudden grin.

"What are you so delighted about?"

"Oh, I was just thinking that I haven't seen you this unsure of yourself in a while. It's nice to know that you're still human like the rest of us. And that I can, you know, help you with something." He said the last bit with a bit of embarrassment. "I mean, all this not fighting with Malfoy and trying to get along with Snape. And you don't look like it's even hard for you. It's a bit much for the rest of us to live up to."

"Ron, you're mental. I want to yell at Snape every class, and I almost tripped Malfoy the first week just for looking, well, like Malfoy. The only thing keeping me sane is you and Hermione. OK, I've got a lot of help with the meditation thing. OK, more than a lot since it really helps with the emotional distance. But sometimes the only thing that keeps me from doing something stupid is because I promised you two that I wouldn't. I mean, I know it's important to keep my cool, but it's hard to remember that in the heat of the moment. But it's not hard to remember a promise I made to my two best friends."

"Wow, I didn't know. That's," he paused and looked off to the side as his voice cracked a little. "Thanks, mate. I'm happy to help." Ron looked uncomfortable for a bit but then he broke out in another grin. "So, I guess you won't mind if I ask Hermione out?"

"You prat!" Harry grinned and tackled Ron. They fell off of the bed and broke the barrier of the silencing charm. Thus it was that the rest of their roommates woke up to them wrestling across the floor, giggling like mad.

#

It was a Defense again, and Harry wasn't looking forward to it. He was still feeling a bit off from his interrupted night of sleep. After Ron went back to bed, Harry had trouble getting to sleep as he tried to figure out if dreaming about Oliver Wood meant he was gay or just hormonal. Those thoughts were followed quickly by thoughts of what people his eyes tended to notice when he was awake. His self-examinations and all of the emotions it had dug up — most of the negative ones seemed to be in Uncle Vernon's voice — had kept him awake for most of the rest of the night. It was definitely not smart to work on DADA with Malfoy when he wasn't on his game. But, the contract called for attendance except in cases of emergency. He didn't think the contract would see lack of sleep as an emergency.

"Alright, Potter, I thought we could work on shield charms today. Do you know any?"

"Just _Protego_. Are there others?"

"Of course there are," Malfoy said with a sneer. The contract didn't say anything about being nice to each other. Apparently, Malfoy was having an off day as well and had decided to take it out on Harry. Harry wasn't surprised by the sneer so much as the realization that he hadn't seen it for the last few classes. "Different shields work better against different hexes."

"OK, makes sense."

"Let's start with _Protego_ so I can see how well you do that. I'll throw something at you, and you shield against it. We'll see if your shield holds."

Harry was pretty confident of his shield. After all, he had learned it during the Tournament and had used it pretty effectively against a few Death Eaters last year. But, 10 minutes later, he was starting to wonder if Malfoy knew something that those Death Eaters didn't. After his shield had stood up to the first few hexes that Malfoy threw at it, Malfoy started to get more creative. Harry could feel the shield get weaker each time he put it up. Or maybe he was just getting tired.

"OK, you obviously have a pretty good handle on that. So, let's move on. _Protego_ works well against most hexes. However, it's useless against a physical attack. So, your opponent could pull out a sword and cut right through it and you. Also, I'm sure you felt it weakening with those last few spells I threw at you. That's because they were hexes designed to cause bloodshed. They imitate a physical attack, so they are more effective against a standard _Protego_ spell. Depending on the relative strength of the two people fighting, they sometimes go right through it."

"So, you're saying you almost stabbed me, but my shield was stronger than your spell?"

"What's wrong, Potter, are you afraid I might hurt you?"

"You can try." Harry's words were softened a bit by the smile on his face, but he had a feeling he had still just thrown down a challenge that Malfoy would find hard to resist.

"Right. So, if you are trying to shield against a physical attack, it's better to use _Obstructus_. The wand motion is the same as _Protego,_ but you need to envision a physical barrier while you do it." Malfoy demonstrated, and Harry could actually see the wall that instantly came between the two of them. It disappeared within seconds. "It takes a lot of concentration because it only lasts as long as you can visualize the barrier in your head. As such, it is only really useful against sudden, isolated attacks. Also, you can't throw a hex, or a fist, through it any more than your opponent can."

"Here, let me try." Harry closed his eyes and pictured a thick, stone wall. The visualization exercises that were so much a part of his daily meditation helped him to quickly and realistically picture it. Opening his eyes, he tried the spell. "_Obstructus_." He said it firmly but didn't shout it. He wasn't sure if his tone of voice would affect the spell, but he thought that was the safest bet. Quickly, the wall took shape in front of him. In his surprise, he let his concentration drop and the shield fell.

"Not bad, Potter. Do you want to practice a bit before we give it a trial?"

Harry's next wall stayed up for a solid minute before he purposely let it go. Then, he tried changing the picture in his head to see if that changed the end result. First, he used brick and that is what appeared. Next, he pictured an actual knight's shield. That worked so well, he tried it again and made sure to include the handle on the inside to see if he could grab it and maneuver it around. He managed to grab it for a fleeting second but lost the picture in his head almost immediately. Next, he pictured it already attached to his arm and took the time to see it moving in a battle situation before he even said the spell. When he said the spell, he immediately felt the handle attached to his forearm. Moving slowly to make sure he didn't loose his concentration, he moved his arm up so the shield guarded his head.

"Merlin, Potter, how'd you do that?"

"I don't know. I just pictured it, and there it is. I've always been good at seeing things in my head." He didn't share that he had years of experience trying to feel full after picturing the dinner he hadn't been allowed to eat.

"All right. Let's see how your fancy shield works in real life."

With no more warning, he threw a slashing hex. Harry quickly pictured his shield and placed it in front of the oncoming hex. The hex bounced off the shield, and Malfoy quickly ducked to avoid it. Harry actually found the shield feeling stronger and more solid as he witnessed it working. Malfoy watched him for a moment in surprise. Then, his expression changed to one of anticipation. Next, he said a spell that Harry wasn't familiar with. It felt like a hard object with a sharp point hit the outside of his shield. Harry looked and realized that was exactly what it was as the spell Malfoy had cast had apparently transfigured his wand into a sword.

Malfoy apparently knew what he was doing with a sword, and he kept up his attack. Harry was starting to feel pretty good about his shield, but that was apparently the wrong thing to think. That thought was just enough to break his concentration and his shield evaporated. Malfoy was in mid-lunge and didn't have time to pull back. Harry felt the sword pierce him in the chest. His last thought before the blackness overwhelmed him was he really shouldn't have tried that on three hours sleep.

#

_Thanks for continuing to read! _


	6. Chapter 6

Harry woke up in the Infirmary. He could hear an argument outside the curtain that surrounded his bed.

"Yes, I'm sure that Mr. Malfoy _stabbed_ Mr. Potter completely by _accident_." That was McGonagall's voice. She hadn't liked the idea of Malfoy and Harry having an unsupervised class together and was not impressed with Harry's contract. She couldn't find anything wrong with it, but Harry could still hear her frosty voice from a few days ago, "Let me get this straight, Mr. Potter, you created a contract with Mr. Malfoy and didn't think to include a clause forbidding him to cause you harm?"

Snape's voice was colder than ice and as sarcastic as the one he used with Harry in class. "Perhaps Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter were dueling in the course of their class together."

"If they were dueling, they should both have had swords. Where's Mr. Potter's?"

Harry had already had enough of this argument and he tried to call out to get their attention. Unfortunately, all that came out was a croak. Luckily, they were close enough to hear him anyway.

"Mr. Potter?" McGonagall pulled the curtain open. "How are you feeling?"

"OK." McGonagall looked skeptical, but Harry didn't really care. "Professor, I heard you arguing, and Malfoy didn't do this on purpose." Just then, Harry realized that Malfoy was with them. He stood between McGonagall and Snape and looked even paler than usual. "We were practicing shield spells, and he had turned his wand into a sword. I was just trying to block him, so I wasn't armed. My shield failed unexpectedly, and Malfoy couldn't pull back in time."

"You were practicing shield spells with a sword that wasn't blunted? Do you have no sense?" asked McGonagall.

"Well, it was working pretty well, but then I lost my concentration and the shield disappeared." Harry grinned self-deprecatingly in the hopes on defusing McGonagall's ire. He knew that mostly she was just concerned for him. At that moment, his forehead exploded in pain. Instinctively, he started his meditation exercises, which allowed him to separate himself from the pain. In a moment, he opened his eyes to see Snape looking at him oddly. Snape had changed position subtly. Whereas before his hands were folded in his trademark overbearing professor manner, now one hand had shifted and was almost cradling the other arm. Harry realized Snape was being called and that was what he had just felt. He probably wouldn't have felt it at all, but he had just woken up from being stabbed after all.

"Well, we have resolved the issue of blame. Now, I have to go." Without further comment, Snape turned and left the infirmary. Shortly thereafter, Madame Pomfrey came out of her office and shooed Malfoy and McGonagall out. Harry was completely knackered and was asleep almost immediately afterwards.

#

"Mr. Potter, I'd like to speak to you after class."

Harry had been released from the Infirmary that morning in time to go to classes. Apparently a stabbing chest wound wasn't good for more than one night in the Infirmary. Couldn't Madame Pomfrey have kept him until this afternoon? But no, she had to let him go so he could make it to Potions. Snape was in an especially hateful mood this morning. Harry supposed he had every reason to be cranky after spending the night playing faithful Death Eater. But that didn't make his bile any easier to deal with.

"Yes, sir." Harry kept his head down and his tone respectful. He didn't want to give Snape any more reason to single him out than whatever was on his mind. He ladled a sample of the potion he made in class into a phial and started to clean up his desk. As the rest of his classmates filed up to Snape's desk to drop off their samples and then left the classroom, Harry closed a door in his mind that allowed him to turn off most of his conscious thoughts. Next, he pictured the surface of a lake reflecting sunlight and began to breathe consciously in his nose and out of his mouth. He had a few moments for the calming exercises to work as he acknowledged and let go of the few stray thoughts and emotions that weren't already tightly closed behind the door in his mind.

Once the classroom was empty, Snape crooked his finger at Harry to indicate he should approach his desk. Harry carried his phial up to the desk and put it beside the others, but he left his backpack on his chair.

"Have any interesting dreams last night, Mr. Potter?"

"No, sir."

"Oh? It was a particularly nasty evening. Are you going to tell me that you didn't listen in on that connection you have to the Dark Lord's emotional tantrums?"

"I didn't see anything, sir." Harry wasn't going to volunteer any more information than he needed to while Snape was in this kind of dangerous mood.

"I saw you last night. You felt it when I was called." Snape paused. "But you weren't in pain for long. What did you do?"

"Nothing much, sir."

Snape stared at Harry intently, and Harry was suddenly reminded of their Occlumency lessons. Could he do Legilimency without a wand or a verbal incantation? Harry felt the panic rise; but then he let it go, and it sunk beneath the surface of the lake. Quickly, he started to concentrate on his calming exercise again and put some shade trees into the scene in his head. Harry was working on hearing the sound of the leaves rustling in the breeze when Snape finally broke his stare. Harry supposed Snape couldn't do Legilimency without saying it since he wasn't curled up on the floor in pain.

"Care to elaborate, Mr. Potter?"

"It was just some Muggle meditation techniques that I picked up over the summer."

"Muggle meditation? And are you doing the same thing now?"

Harry's eyes widened a bit but figured that it would be worse if he lied. "Yes, sir."

"You are dismissed, Mr. Potter. Hurry or you will be late for your next class."

#

At lunch that day, Hermione wanted to know what Snape wanted. Harry didn't feel that he should talk about it in the Great Hall with everyone listening. They didn't speak of anything of substance about Voldemort, but it never hurt to be cautious.

"I don't want to talk about it, Hermione." Harry dragged his hand through his hair and exposed his scar for a brief moment. Ron and Hermione both looked surprised for a moment as they recognized the signal they had agreed to early in the year. This one meant, 'I can't talk about it in a public place because it's about Voldemort.'

"Well, I hope you didn't let him rattle you, Harry." Hermione quickly realized that she should continue to play her role of nagging friend and tried her best to sound concerned in an ordinary, Snape-is-a-git kind of way.

Ron stepped in with the redirect, "Hey Hermione, can I borrow your Transfiguration notes?"

#

Harry, Ron, and Hermione decided to go to the library that afternoon after classes. On the surface, they all had homework that they needed to work on. In reality, they were planning on stopping at the Room of Requirement to talk since they couldn't think of anyplace else where they could get the privacy to do so. As they were walking out the portrait hole, Ginny Weasley stopped them with a note for Harry.

_Dear Harry,_

_I would like to have a word with you about an important matter. Please come to my office as soon as you get this note._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_P.S. I enjoy Acid Pops._

Harry quickly put the message in his bag after showing Hermione and Ron. "Right. I'll have to meet you at the library a little later."

When he reached the gargoyle, he said, "Acid Pops," and watched it spring out of his way to reveal the spiral stone staircase. As he was carried up to Dumbledore's office, he tried to rein in his teaming thoughts. 'Just take it one moment at a time, Potter,' he told himself under his breath. By the time he reached the top, he was fully immersed in his calming exercises and had transformed the air moving across his cheeks as the stairs moved under him to the calming breeze of shade trees beside a glassy lake.

Harry couldn't say he was entirely surprised to see Snape already in Dumbledore's office when he opened the door. He was, however, surprised by Dumbledore's serious manner. There was no twinkle in his eyes. He motioned Harry to a seat and did not offer him tea or candy. There was also no small talk.

"Professor Snape tells me that you have 'picked up' some Muggle method of occluding your mind. Who taught you this, Harry?"

"I have?" Harry was surprised because he didn't think he was shielding his mind. He had assumed that Snape hadn't entered his mind earlier today simply because he couldn't without saying the incantation.

"Don't be dense, Mr. Potter, you admitted it this morning after class."

Harry looked at Snape in confusion for a moment. "I didn't know I was occluding. I was just doing a calming exercise so I wouldn't lose my temper and say something I would regret later."

Snape's eyebrow went up, and some of the seriousness faded from Dumbledore's face. "Why don't you tell us more about it and how you learned it, Harry?"

Harry addressed himself to Dumbledore because that felt more comfortable. He reminded himself of his first resolution (Trust Dumbledore) and decided to be completely honest and just pretend that Snape wasn't there. "Well, I started this summer. I decided that I needed to stop fighting with Malfoy and had to learn to work with Professor Snape. Fighting with Malfoy is just a waste of time, and I'm going to need Professor Snape's help if I'm going to defeat Voldemort. I also knew that I needed to learn Occlumency so Voldemort couldn't manipulate me again. The only thing I could think of to do on my own was to empty my mind like Sn- Professor Snape was always telling me to do. So, I went to a bookstore and bought myself a meditation tape and book. I started to listen to it each night and ended up buying a few other tapes and using them as well."

The look on Dumbledore's face was now more puzzled and concerned. "What, exactly was on these 'tapes,' and how did you listen to them?"

"Well, a tape is a audio recording, and when you put it in a tape player, you can listen to the recording whenever you want." Harry wasn't sure how much Dumbledore knew about Muggle technology. "The first recording was mostly relaxation stuff. Soothing music and a voice walking you through breathing exercises and visualizations to help you let go of the 'stress of the day.' Muggles have taken stuff from some Eastern religious traditions and sort of adapted it to help them relax and 'live in the moment.' The others I got were more geared toward dealing with emotional situations and using the same types of techniques kind of in the background while you went through your day."

During his recital, Harry had not noticed how intently Dumbledore was looking at him, and so he didn't realize that he was being tested. "So what, exactly, were you doing this afternoon, and what are you doing right now?"

"Well, I kind of lock away my emotions and conscious thoughts, and then I visualize a calming scene. When any emotions come up that threaten to push me off track, I acknowledge them and just let them go, and they kind of sink down and away. That way, I'm less likely to do stuff in the heat of the moment, and I can usually think through stuff more logically."

"Well, this is an interesting development, Harry. Professor Snape also tells me that you seem to have blocked the link between Voldemort and yourself."

"Well, I guess so. I haven't had any nightmares since last year. And last night when I felt Professor Snape being called was the first time my scar has hurt in a while. It didn't really last for long either because as soon as I started my exercises, it went away. I didn't even need a headache potion."

"So, you haven't felt pain in your scar at any other time — even for a short time?"

"Not since last year."

Dumbledore turned to Snape, who seemed to know what he was being asked without being told. "I have been called twice before last night since the beginning of the school year."

"But last night you were near Harry when you were called?"

"Yes." Snape's answer was short and to the point.

"Yeah, I had just woken up in the Infirmary, and he and Professor McGonagall were discussing what had happened in DADA with Malfoy."

"So, it might have been your weakened physical state rather than the nearness of Professor Snape that was the reason for you feeling the call in your scar?"

"I think so, Headmaster."

Dumbledore steepled his hands and tapped the forefingers together in a thoughtful gesture. "A very interesting development." He looked at Harry assessingly over his half-moon glasses. "It seems that you have succeeded in occluding your mind from Professor Snape, Voldemort, and even myself." A little of the twinkle was back in his eyes with that last bit. "You also seem to be able to keep it up during the course of a normal conversation without any undo effort. That is a rare skill, Harry, and even more impressive for the way in which you learned it without much help."

Harry was surprised at Dumbledore's candor, but he didn't want to alienate Snape with the implication that he hadn't taught him anything last year. "Well, I had Professor Snape's instructions to use as guidance, sir. I was actually hoping that if I stopped irritating him in class, he would agree to resume tutoring me."

"An excellent idea. What do you think, Severus? Would you be willing to help Harry develop his skills in Occlumency?"

"I think that I might be persuaded to give it a try." Snape turned to Harry and his pleasant tone was gone. "Tell me, Mr. Potter, is the extra care you have been giving to your potions part of your efforts to win my good opinion?"

Harry thought about lying but decided that would only get him into more trouble. "Yes, sir. But, I've been trying harder in all my classes because I figure I need to know as much magic as I can learn, or I would lose the next time Voldemort comes for me." Harry ignored Snape's wince at the sound of the name. "But, I guess I have been trying extra hard in your class."

Instead of looking angry with Harry for trying to manipulate him, Snape looked impressed. "Well, I never would have credited a Gryffindor for making a plan and sticking to it. It seems you have learned more than just to control your emotions. I believe we might be able to resume your lessons." He paused for a moment and his face became even sterner. "However, I will not hesitate to put an end to the lessons if you have not learned your manners."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

"Well, that's settled. Now, we just have to work out when and where you two will meet and how we can keep these lessons quiet. I don't think Remedial Potions will be a believable excuse anymore." He twinkled at Harry. "I know just the room that you could use. It is quite out of the way, and no one is likely to see you entering or exiting. However, it might be prudent for you to arrive about an hour before your lesson is to begin so no one notices you and Professor Snape leaving at the same time. I'm sure you have enough homework to keep you busy. I believe there might also be some things that I can teach you, Harry. So, some of your lessons will be with Professor Snape, and some will be with me. Now, we just have to agree on a time. Would once a week be often enough?"

#

_Keep reading and reviewing! I can use all the encouragement I can get._


	7. Chapter 7

It was after dinner before Harry had a chance to talk to Ron and Hermione about everything that happened. His head was swimming. But Hermione derailed him before he could even get started.

"Am I the only one who thinks that Malfoy is a bit subdued this year?" She plopped down on one of the pillows that were strewn about the Room of Requirement. Harry had requested someplace private and comfortable to talk, and they had gotten soft lighting and lots of pillows but very little furniture except the table holding tea and pumpkin juice. He guessed the room thought they would be here long enough to need refreshment.

Harry frowned in thought. "I guess. But, it's really hard for me to say since I don't see him much except in classes."

"But, you see, that is significant. What happened to the Draco Malfoy who was always sneering and insulting us in the corridors and loudly holding court with the rest of Slytherin at every opportunity?"

"I guess you have a point. I haven't really been interacting with him except in DADA. He hasn't put anything in anyone's cauldron in Potions, but that might be because the class is smaller. How about you, Ron, noticed anything?"

"I didn't really notice anything, but now that we're talking about it, I can see it. What do you think is going on?"

Hermione shook her head. "I really don't know. I just wanted to bring it up to see if it was only in my head. Honestly, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop." She looked at Harry. "But you said he was acting pretty normal in your independent study?"

"Yeah, but we have that contract, so there is only so much he can do. I mean, we still fall back into the old patterns sometimes, but mostly we've been sticking to the work."

"I wondered what his summer was like with his dad in Azkaban." Ron looked thoughtful. "I know that if my dad was suddenly not around, it would really change things for me."

"Yeah, but for the good or the worse?" Hermione was starting to look a bit worried. "What happened in class that put you in the infirmary?"

"Yeah, we tried to visit you, but Pomfrey said you were asleep and not to disturb you."

"Oh, nothing nefarious. We were practicing shield charms and mine failed unexpectedly. Malfoy couldn't pull back quick enough, and I got stabbed."

"Wait, I didn't think _Protego_ worked against physical attacks." Ron looked confused.

Hermione just looked alarmed. "Stabbed?"

"Yeah, it doesn't. Malfoy was teaching me a new shield, _Obstructus_. It was working really well. He was testing me by trying to break it down, so he transfigured his wand into a sword."

"So, you were trying out a new shield when you hadn't had a full night's sleep, and you were letting Malfoy poke you with pointy objects?"

Harry didn't know how Ron knew he hadn't gotten back to sleep after their little talk. "Well, if you put it like that, it sounds really stupid. What was I supposed to do? Ask him to go easy on me because I'd been woken up by my nosey roommate and then couldn't get back to sleep?"

"Why did Ron wake you up last night, Harry?"

Harry blushed, and Ron smirked. "He was a having a bit of a loud dream, and I thought he was having a nightmare, so I woke him up. Turns out I couldn't have been further from the truth."

"Ron!"

"What? She's going to have to hear it sometime."

"What am I going to have to hear? What were you dreaming about, Harry?" Her eyes went round as she realized what they must be teasing each other about before either of them could explain. "I fail to understand why I have to hear about Harry's dreams _like that_."

"No. That's not it so much as who he was dreaming about."

"Do you have a crush on someone, Harry? Are you still stuck on Cho?"

"No, not Cho." Harry chose to pretend that he had answered both of Hermione's questions and tried to glare Ron into silence. Ron never was good at taking hints.

"Harry, did you listen to me last night? It doesn't matter to me, and I'm sure that it doesn't to Hermione either." He turned to Hermione. "Harry isn't exclusively interested in girls."

"Oh, that." Hermione turned to Harry. "Well, I kind of guessed that already, Harry." At his disbelieving look, she went on, "You've only shown interest in one girl, and I've definitely seen you looking at a few boys in a bit more intense way than other boys do." She smiled. "It's not as big of a deal in the wizarding world as in the Muggle world. Many wizards and witches have partners of both sexes."

"How do you learn this stuff?" Harry was honestly puzzled by her. She was as much a stranger to the wizarding world as he was, but she always seemed to know what she was talking about. Harry still felt like he was learning a foreign language sometimes. "I mean, are there books on social mores and customs in the library?"

"There aren't so many in the library, but that's not the only place to get books, Harry. After all, my parents don't expect me to pretend I'm not a witch all summer like the Dursleys do with you."

Harry didn't really feel like having a long conversation about his possible interest in boys. He figured he would just go back to what started the conversation and pretend the one in the intervening time hadn't happened. "So, I got stabbed because I couldn't concentrate enough to keep up my shield."

"How long had you been practicing the shield before you let him poke at you with sharp objects?" Ron really seemed hung up on the pointy objects to Harry.

"I don't know — about 20 minutes. What's that got to do with it?"

"You were practicing a spell you had just learned during that class, and he was using a sword to test you, and you don't think he was trying to hurt you?"

"No, that's just how our class works. He didn't have any reason to think it would fail because I had kept it up during a few slashing hexes. So he just moved on to the next step up. Plus, when we were working with _Protego_ earlier, we could both feel my shield weakening, but it didn't just disappear suddenly like the other one did."

Both Ron and Hermione looked a bit surprised by this, but Harry didn't see the big deal. He figured this was as good of an introduction into all he had to tell them about Snape and Dumbledore as he was going to get. So, he started with the argument between McGonagall and Snape from the night before and didn't stop until he told them about his chat with Dumbledore and Snape and the newly rescheduled Occlumency lessons.

They were all silent for a while after Harry was finished with his story. Harry was still trying to take in everything that had happened in the Headmaster's office.

"What do you think the Headmaster is going to teach you?" Ron looked a little confused, and Harry really couldn't blame him. He still hadn't told them about the prophecy. It definitely wasn't a good thing to put in a letter during the summer, and Harry had been studiously avoiding thinking about it since the first day back.

"Well, there's something else that I haven't told you." He knew he had to tell them because they deserved to know why Harry couldn't avoid the battle with Voldemort. The lessons with Dumbledore were probably just the first step in preparing Harry to kill him. Plus, they needed to know that their best mate would either be dead or a murderer at the end of the fight.

"You remember the prophecy that got smashed at the Department of Mysteries last year?" At their nods, he continued, "Dumbledore heard the original and he shared it with me." Before he could lose his nerve, he told them the whole story. When he was done, they both looked shell-shocked. Harry let them digest it in their own time. Predictably, it was Ron who snapped out of it first.

"Well, that's crap. Who believes anything Trelawney says anyway?"

"Mostly no one. But this was an actual prophecy. I've seen her get one. It's really creepy and not like she is in class at all. Trust me, no one has any doubt that this one is for real."

"But Harry…"

"Look Hermione, I know what you think of Trelawney. But Dumbledore basically told me that this means either I'm going to kill Voldemort or vice versa." Silence fell for another few moments.

"I guess you had more than just Sirius' death to work through this summer, huh?"

Harry smiled at Hermione, appreciating that she didn't rebuke him for not sharing earlier. "Yeah, I guess. But honestly, I don't know if I have worked through it yet. It's still kind of unreal, so mostly I just don't think about it."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Ron obviously thought that avoidance was the best plan of action.

"Harry, we can't just do our best three-monkeys imitation — you know: hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. You can't just pretend you never heard this prophecy."

"I know, Hermione. But what, exactly, do you propose I do differently than I already am?"

That stumped her.

#

When Harry came in to his next Defense class, Malfoy was already there. He looked a bit tense, and Harry wondered if they were going to go back to the old awkward relationship instead of the more effortless one they had managed for a few classes.

"So, what was with you and Snape in the infirmary?" Malfoy asked before Harry had managed to put his bag down.

"What do you mean?"

"You jumped at the same time like someone had stuck you each with a pin, and then suddenly Snape was gone."

Harry didn't realize that anyone else had noticed the change in Snape, but he certainly wasn't going to talk about it with Malfoy. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Honestly, it's all a bit of a blur."

Malfoy didn't look like he believed that, but he supposed he knew not to press the issue. Or perhaps, that just wasn't his primary concern at the moment. "So why did you tell them it was your fault?"

"Well, it was, wasn't it? My shield failed. There's no way you could have pulled back in time since you were in mid-thrust."

"It didn't strike you as a bit funny that I was using a deadly weapon against a shield that I had just taught a few minutes before?"

"No."

Malfoy looked puzzled and frustrated. "Well, it should!" He sighed heavily. "I could have killed you, and I easily could have used something less deadly to test that shield."

"Then, why did you do it?"

"I was just so angry! There you were doing a better shield in 15 minutes than I could do after knowing that charm for more than a year. Everything is so damn easy for you."

Harry laughed out loud at that last sentence. "That's ridiculous. You've been in Potions with me, so you know everything doesn't come easily to me."

"Well, in any case, I wasn't thinking very well. I just wanted to show you that I was better than you, and I could have killed you."

"Did you just apologize to me, Malfoy?" Malfoy's mouth opened, then closed, then opened and closed again. "You look like a fish. It's OK. It was nice of you to say whatever-that-was." Harry smiled. "So where do we go from here? Do we need to set some ground rules about safety, or do you think we should assume we've both learned our lesson?"

Malfoy looked somewhat surprised that Harry had so smoothly accepted his non-apology and moved on. "The latter, I think. At least for now."

"Alright then." Harry made an effort to remember what he had planned to do today. "So, I was thinking we could take a break from the heavy stuff until I'm feeling a bit less stiff. I was hoping that we could do something a bit more fun today. Can you do a Patronus?"

"No, I've never tried."

"Well, it would be skipping ahead a bit in Jackson's plan for us. But they can be fun, and there aren't any dangerous pointy objects involved. I thought they might be good for today. They're even more fun when you don't have to worry about facing a Dementor while you're learning to do it."

"I guess that would kind of take the pressure off." Malfoy smirked in an amused manner.

"So, the theory is that you have to think of a very happy memory. Then, keeping it in your head, you cast _Expecto Patronum_ and flick your wand like this." Harry demonstrated but didn't actually do the charm.

Malfoy looked thoughtful for a moment and then tried to cast. Nothing happened.

"Most people take a bit to come up with a sufficiently happy memory and focus on it enough to produce anything at all. Even after that, most people only get a bit of a mist when they finally get it working."

"How would you know about 'most people'?"

"Well, I did teach a room full of students this charm last year." Harry smirked. He didn't really think there was any harm in admitting he was teaching the DA last year. Malfoy already knew since he had helped Umbridge break up that last fateful meeting.

"True." Malfoy tried again and again with no results.

"You need to come up with a really happy memory, Malfoy. Not just kind-of-happy. Joyful is what you are looking for." Harry paused for a moment and tried to decide what he could use as his happy thought. So many of his memories were poisoned by tragedies that followed. He focused on the trip back to Hogwarts on the train this year. He had been so happy to see his friends and go back to Hogwarts. With his new resolutions, the year had stretched out in front of him full of the promise of good things. He had let himself forget for a little while the responsibilities that going back to school meant. Harry held on to that happiness and friendship and cast the charm. In a moment, a beautiful silvery stag was galloping across the room. With no Dementors to chase off or any other mission, it turned around and romped around the room for a few minutes. Then, right before it drifted into smoke and disappeared, it turned to Harry and winked.

"Wow, that's even more impressive than I remember it."

Harry laughed. "Yeah, I suppose you would remember that pretty vividly. But then, if you are going to pretend to be a Dementor, you deserved what you get."

"Yeah, I guess I did, at that."

Harry knew better than to make a big deal of the fact that Draco Malfoy just offered what amounted to a second non-apology in one class. "So, think of something really joyful: no worries, no cares, something really big." Harry looked at Malfoy closely. "Do you have it?" At Malfoy's nod, he continued, "OK, focus on it, make it real in your head, feel the emotions you were feeling at that moment." He paused briefly, "Now go."

Malfoy cast again and this time, he got a little smoke to come out of his wand. He looked both surprised and pleased. "That's it. You just need to practice now. Make it more real, really feel the joy and focus on it."

"I was, Potter." Malfoy sounded a bit disgruntled.

"Malfoy, this isn't supposed to be easy, and you are doing really well. Don't get discouraged." They kept practicing, and Malfoy got better at it. He was consistently getting results, and the mist was getting larger.

"Take a break for a minute."

"No, I want to try once more, first."

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a minute, and opened them. His face was serene and determined as he cast, "_Expecto Patronum_." A silvery mist came from his wand and started to coalesce into a form.

Harry thought he had it but then started to doubt, as the mist seemed to spread again. Then, he realized that the spreading was actually the wings of a huge bird. It soared around the room for a minute, and Malfoy and Harry watched silently.

"A hawk," Malfoy breathed in wonder.

"Wow, that's so amazing."

"There was a hawk that used to nest near the Manor when I was younger. I used to watch it hunt. It looked just like that." Malfoy had moved from awe to delight. If he was anyone but Malfoy, Harry thought he would be giggling right now.

"Congratulations, Malfoy. You did it."

"I did, didn't I?" If it was possible, Malfoy looked even more delighted. "Thanks, Potter, I couldn't have done it without you."

They practiced for a bit longer and then did some reading for the rest of class. After class, Malfoy stopped Harry right outside of the classroom. "So, are you going to tell me what was going on in the Infirmary?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, you tried that earlier, and I didn't believe you then either." Malfoy's smirk held no malice.

Harry paused for a minute to collect his thoughts. He couldn't tell Malfoy the truth. But, Harry didn't feel right continuing to pretend ignorance at this point. He looked at Malfoy assessingly and decided to try out a version of the truth.

"Look, Malfoy, in that classroom, we've reached an understanding of sorts. I've come to respect that and you. However, I can't trust you outside of it. You've proven over the years that you'll take advantage of any details you glean, so I really don't even want you to know if I prefer wizard's chess to Exploding Snap."

A hurt look had passed across Malfoy's face, but it was quickly replaced with the standard Draco Malfoy mask.

"I'm sorry." Harry turned and walked away before the situation got any more awkward than it already was.

#

_Sorry for the delay. Real life got in the way._


	8. Chapter 8

Harry found himself thinking again and again about that brief conversation with Malfoy. After telling Hermione and Ron about it, he realized that he was looking for reasons to trust Malfoy. Their classes together were going well, and Harry was realizing that Malfoy could be fun to spend time with. But he couldn't just forget five years of bad behavior after a few weeks of good. Hermione reminded him of Dumbledore's vague comment about things changing for Malfoy over the summer when he was deciding to do the DADA independent study, and they all decided he should try to get Dumbledore to tell him more.

At lunch the next day, Harry approached the head table and asked Dumbledore for an appointment after classes that afternoon.

"Certainly, my boy. Shall we say 4 o'clock?" At Harry's nod, he continued, "The password hasn't changed since your last visit."

Harry thanked him and turned away to join his friends at the Gryffindor table. He knew his chances of getting anything concrete out of the Headmaster were slim, but he had to try. The three of them ate quickly and then walked outside before the next class to discuss Harry's strategy for his meeting.

Consequently, Harry came to the meeting with all sorts of differing advice running through his head. As usual, he decided to cut through the confusion with the truth. He kept coming back to his first resolution, "Trust Dumbledore." So, after Harry and the Headmaster had settled in with tea and biscuits and exchanged the requisite small talk, Harry told Dumbledore about Draco's questions and his response.

"The thing is, sir, I don't want to completely ignore him if he is trying to be friendly. We are getting along really well in class. But, I'm concerned about what he might do with any personal information about me. Then I remembered what you said when I was trying to decide whether or not to take the class. You said that you didn't think I should be concerned that any information he learned about me would immediately be reported to the other side because things had changed over the summer for him. I was hoping you would tell me what you meant by that."

Dumbledore looked at Harry for a moment before answering. "First, I'd like to say that I appreciate you coming to me, Harry. Your trust and honesty prompt me to be equally frank and trusting. You are right that I have some information that I didn't share with you and Professor McGonagall that night. However, it is nothing more than my personal opinion. I don't, as yet, have any hard intelligence to back it up. I simply have noticed that Mr. Malfoy's behavior has changed considerably since last year."

"Yeah, he isn't strutting about the school like he used to. He's not even insulting Ron and Hermione at every opportunity anymore."

"Exactly. I believe that Mr. Malfoy did some growing up over the summer. His father is still in Azkhaban. Therefore, his normal channel of information to Voldemort is somewhat blocked. So, I thought that it might be prudent to promote this class of yours. You would be learning the Defense you so dearly need, and Mr. Malfoy would be given an opportunity to know you — not the portrait of Harry Potter than his father has painted for him."

"So, you think I should try to become friends with him?"

"That I cannot tell you to do, Harry. You are right to be somewhat wary. However, I would ask that you keep an open mind."

#

Harry came away from his meeting with no solid answers. He still didn't have any answers when Malfoy stopped him after their next class.

"Potter, I was thinking about what you said about not trusting me. I realized that I wanted you to. Will you give me a chance to change your mind?"

"Why should I?" That came out harsher than Harry wanted it to, but he was starting to feel somewhat overwhelmed with all of the opinions warring for supremacy in his head.

"Do you have some time now for me to try to convince you to give me a second chance?"

"I guess," Harry relented. After all, he could still say no and walk away after Malfoy had his say. As Dumbledore suggested, he was going to keep an open mind.

"OK. But not here." Malfoy steered them towards the main doors, and they walked out to the Quidditch pitch in silence. Once they were settled in one of the stands, Malfoy didn't seem inclined to start talking.

"You know, you're the one that started this, so I really think you should start talking." Harry smiled at Malfoy to take the sting out of his rebuke.

Malfoy didn't look at Harry, but he did start talking. "I knew all about you before I even met you. I suppose that's not unusual. Everyone grew up hearing stories about Harry Potter. But I imagine the stories I heard about you were a bit different than the ones that Weasley grew up on." Here he risked a quick glance at Harry but didn't pause in his story. "My father's stories were always about how everyone thought this little baby had destroyed this great wizard. Obviously, it was all a trick. Perhaps Dumbledore arranged it or perhaps it was a group of people who did so. But, the great wizard wasn't defeated. He was just biding his time. Before we started school, I had my first assignment. I was supposed to get to know you and tell me father everything I learned." Malfoy laughed. "When that didn't work out, I was given other assignments. Mostly, they all boiled down to one thing: bring you down. Each time I failed, my father would punish me. He was disappointed and disdainful. Why couldn't I defeat one stupid Muggle-raised boy? The punishments got…more severe as the years past. My father can be very single-minded when he wants something. None of my excuses did me any good."

"But…" Harry broke off his sentence as Malfoy held up a hand to stop him.

"One time, I had the temerity to say that even the Dark Lord couldn't defeat you, so I didn't see why he thought I could. He was livid. He is convinced that you didn't defeat the Dark Lord. He thinks it's all some great conspiracy. For a long time, I never doubted him. He's my father, and I wanted to believe him. But I started to dread his assignments." Malfoy paused for a few moments and took a deep breath. "Last year, I was so angry when he got arrested." He smiled at Harry. "At first, I was angry at you. But then I got angry with him. He couldn't best you either! He made me feel like a fool each time I failed, and now look at him. How dare he belittle me that way all those years." Malfoy seemed to be on a roll now: He was talking faster and louder. "I still figured the Dark Lord would get him out of prison, and I started to wonder how I was going to avoid my next assignment. But then, it didn't happen. It's like he's fallen off the face of the planet. My mother doesn't talk about it, his friends don't visit the Manor, and the elves don't even say his name. It was kind of surreal, but I started to like it. I realized I was hoping that he wouldn't come back." Malfoy smiled. It was a real smile — not the smirk he more often wore. "That was when I started to question more of the stuff he said about you and the Dark Lord and a lot of other things. Do you have any idea how freeing it was when I realized that most people consider conspiracy theories the product of a crazed mind?"

Harry laughed out loud as Malfoy looked at him and smirked.

"So, I came to school this year for the first time without an assignment to humiliate you or show you up or get you in trouble or turn you over to the Dark Lord. Apparently, the Dark Lord has had enough of Malfoy failures and has decided to let my father rot in Azkhaban. I know I should feel badly about that, but mostly, I just feel free. Like, I get to do what I want and make my own decisions for the first time in my life." Here Malfoy paused and looked at Harry as if making sure that he was still listening. "So, I get here and almost right away, I get thrown into a room with you. I agreed because I figured that if the Dark Lord ever decides to show some interest in the Malfoys again, I'm going to need to know how to stay alive long enough to get as far away as possible. What I didn't expect to happen was that I would start to enjoy our classes. You were so much more interesting than I thought you would be, and I really felt like we were learning a lot from each other. You were strong enough to defeat the Dark Lord and my father, but you acted so normal. Then, you defended me to McGonagall, and I realized that very few of my friends would have done that. And here you were my enemy. And then I realized that I didn't want to be enemies." Here, Malfoy took a deep breath and looked right at Harry. "So, what do you say, can you give me a chance to be something other than your worst enemy?"

All of the voices in Harry' head — all of the opinions fighting for dominance — were quiet. He had no doubt of his answer to Malfoy's question. But he had to know one thing before he could take the step. "All of the things you started to rethink over the summer — was one of them your father's opinions on the supremacy of pure blood?"

"Well, of course, I had to. Look at you, you're a half-blood, but you still always come out on top. And Granger! She a mud- Muggle-born, but she's still always head of the class. I can't say that I'm comfortable with it, but I can't deny the facts staring me in the face. If I did, I'd be as mad as my father."

"Well, I won't expect you to change overnight if you won't expect me to. You might have some difficulty shedding your old ideas, but I expect I'll have even greater difficulty thinking of you as anything but a right prat." Again, Harry's smile took the edge out of his tone. "But, I'm willing to give it a try if you are."

He extended his hand to Malfoy who clasped it but didn't shake. He simply looked at Harry and nodded his head in agreement.

#

Before Harry and Malfoy had left the Quidditch stands, Harry had realized that he was going to need to tell Ron and Hermione most of what Malfoy had just told him. So, he got Malfoy's permission and almost immediately went to find Ron and Hermione.

They were both a bit skeptical. After all, they hadn't seen Malfoy's face or heard his voice as he told his story. However, they agreed that Harry should give him a chance as long as Harry was careful. They all agreed that Harry tended to trust easily and that he needed to be careful about what he talked with Malfoy about — at least at first.

Harry was still thinking about all of this while doing his homework in the out-of-the-way room that Dumbledore has set aside for Harry's special lessons. The room wasn't a classroom, so there were no desks. In fact, Harry wasn't sure what the purpose of the room had been originally. It was furnished sort of like the study of a country gentleman, but it didn't appear to connect to anyone's personal rooms. Bookcases covered two walls and a large fireplace with an equally large landscape painting over top of it dominated the third wall. Instead of a desk, Harry was sitting in a squishy armchair and leaning on a small coffee table. They were both situated in front of the fireplace facing the empty wall with the door. The walls and bookcases were a cream-colored while the chair was leafy green. The Oriental rug included shades of the same colors.

Snape was due to arrive any minute, and Harry was ostensibly trying to finish an essay for Transfiguration. Mostly, he was thinking about Malfoy. Realizing he wasn't getting anything done, Harry put his books away. He got comfortable and started his meditation exercises. He figured he might as well be ready when Snape got there.

Harry heard Snape approaching and stood up. Snape swooped in with his wand out and the words "Legilimens" already leaving his lips. Harry was ready for him and was already deeply immersed in his favorite lake scene. Harry didn't even draw his wand because he didn't need to hex Snape to keep him out of his head.

"Well, Mr. Potter, since you seem to have mastered a simple occlusion, we are going to move on to the next step. For this step, you will learn to purposely let someone in to part of your mind. If done skillfully enough, the person will think they have gotten past your barriers and learned what you do not want them to know. In actuality, they will have only learned what you wanted them to know."

Harry had a feeling that all of his hard-won confidence was about to be shredded to ribbons. The evening bore this out. After a description of how Snape managed to do that with Voldemort, they started by seeing if Harry could open his mind just slightly while still guarding most of his inner self. Within moments, he was flat on his back on the floor. Harry felt like he was back in last year's lessons. However, he did have one weapon that he didn't have last year. When he realized what was happening, he closed the door in his head and forcibly ejected Snape.

"Obviously, we need to work on that, Mr. Potter."

"Yes, sir." Harry regained his feet. "Could you explain what you do again? Maybe it will help me figure out what I need to do."

They spend the next hour and a half like that. Harry would try to open his mind slightly, Snape would take the opening to gain access to all that Harry had locked away, and Harry would slam the door and eject Snape from his mind. After a few tries, Harry felt like he was making a little progress. A very little.

When they were both exhausted, Harry was dismissed. As he turned to grab his bag, he had a sudden impulse and turned back. "Sir, can I ask a favor of you?"

Snape raised an eyebrow. "You can certainly ask."

"You might notice Malfoy and I being friendlier. I was hoping I could convince you not to make any comments to him that could be taken as a discouragement. Once people notice us being friendly, it's going to be hard on Malfoy. At least if you don't comment, that will be one less person he has to worry about."

"You concerned about how difficult it will be for Malfoy? What about you? Won't your friends be just as harsh?"

"Some of them, but I can handle it. I'm used to having half the school think I'm crazy."

"Why are you doing this, Mr. Potter?"

"Malfoy asked me to give him a second chance, and I told him I would."

"That doesn't tell me why."

"No, it doesn't. Do you need to know why in order to help? He could be a powerful ally to our side."

"Are you taking lessons from Dumbledore in manipulating people?"

"No, if I was, I wouldn't have told you I wasn't going to answer your question." Harry smirked. Snape's eyebrows rose in surprise. Harry wasn't sure if Snape was surprised that Harry had noticed Dumbledore's manipulations or that he had made a joke about it.

"Very well, Mr. Potter. I will assume you know what you are doing, and I will not interfere with your plans. However, if you would like my advice at any time, you know where to find me. I have known the Malfoy family for years, and I might have some insight that Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley cannot provide."

"Thank you, Professor." Harry nodded and left the room.

#

_I'm going to be on vacation for about a week so you won't get another update after this until next weekend._


	9. Chapter 9

Harry and Malfoy got into a routine of sorts. Their DA class was always in the afternoons, and they generally walked outside to talk afterwards for about an hour. If the weather was particularly bad, they found someplace quiet in the castle. For the most part, they didn't spend time with each other in obvious places like the Great Hall or the hallways between classes. Harry figured Malfoy was trying to avoid having his friends notice he and Harry together. Harry was just as happy because he figured they needed time to build a foundation for their friendship before it could stand up against outside interference.

After only a week, Harry found he was looking forward to the next time they met. Malfoy was funny and intelligent and very easy to talk to. By mutual agreement, they mostly stayed on "safe" subjects. Both avoided mentioning the war, Voldemort, Dumbledore, or Lucius Malfoy. Harry had suggested they start using first names, and Draco agreed with a pleased smile.

It was the end of the second week when Harry and Draco walked out of their classroom and ran right into Ron and Hermione.

"Ron and I were going to go for a walk down to the lake and were wondering if you two would like to join us."

To Harry's surprise, Draco agreed immediately. Hermione looked a bit too casual for Harry's taste. Ever since the beginning of last week when Ron had worked up the nerve to ask Hermione out and they had started dating, they had started doing things more and more as a unit. Harry had a feeling this little plan was the result of some of the time they had together while Harry was busy with his other commitments. He was frankly surprised that they did anything but snog based on the times he saw them together lately. He would guess his friends had decided to come and meet the new Draco Malfoy for themselves. He knew they were still a little bit wary of his growing friendship with Draco, and he hoped that their presence wouldn't force Draco back into his more public persona.

They started the walk two-by-two since they couldn't all fit on the path; Harry and Draco were in the lead. When they reached the lake edge, they sat on some rocks and waited for Ron and Hermione to join them. Harry looked for signs of the giant squid as he tried to think of something they all could talk about. Surprisingly, it was Draco who broke the awkward silence.

"So Weasley, I hear you're a Cannons fan." The Chudley Cannons may have been a Quidditch joke with their longstanding losing record, but you never would have known it from Draco's tone. There was no hint of mockery or derision to be heard. "What do you think of their new Keeper? I hear he could turn the team around."

Ron was tense as if waiting for an expected insult. Harry knew it was gong to be hard to break the habit of so many years of rancor between Draco and Ron. He felt his own muscles relax as the suspicion left Ron's face. "Well, he is good. He kept the Wasps to only two goals last game. But we still lost. What we need is a really good Seeker."

"Think they can wait a few years for Harry to finish school?" Draco smirked over at Harry in the hopes of drawing him in to their conversation.

Now that the conversation had started, Harry was anxious that the momentum shouldn't be lost, and so he launched himself fully into a long Quidditch conversation with Ron and Draco. He realized he must have stopped worrying about keeping everyone talking when he noticed that Draco had broken off from the Quidditch conversation and was chatting with Hermione about Arithmancy theory.

Later, they were returning to the castle and again walking two by two. This time, Ron and Hermione were in the front. Draco turned to Harry and smiled. He looked quickly up at the two in the lead, pitched his voice so that they wouldn't hear him and said, "I wasn't expecting a pop quiz."

"You and me both," Harry returned with a chuckle.

Draco looked surprised. "You didn't know they were going to invite themselves along today?"

Harry shook his head. "They must have come up with this sometime when I wasn't around."

"So, do you think I passed?"

"Definitely. You had Ron as soon as you didn't make fun of the Cannons, and Hermione can never talk about Arithmancy with us since neither of us have a clue what she's talking about. I think they were both pleasantly surprised. I'm not so sure that I passed though."

"What would they be testing you about?" Draco look puzzled.

Harry was just as puzzled as Draco. "If I knew that, I would know if I had passed or not."

#

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting at the breakfast table the next day when the owls arrived with the morning post. It was Saturday, and even Hermione didn't have a book with her since Ron and Harry had convinced her to take a break for the morning. Harry watched her bury her head in _The Daily Prophet_ instead after feeding some toast to the owl that delivered it. He wasn't expecting anything, so the school owl had to hoot to get his attention after landing in front of him.

"Sorry, didn't see you." The owl hooted again and shook its leg impatiently. He quickly untied the message and gave the owl some toast and sausage. When it didn't fly away, he said, "Are you supposed to wait for a response?" The owl blinked as if to say, "Of course I am." Harry quickly opened the small scroll and recognized Draco's handwriting.

_H,_

_Did you pass? Do the three of you have plans this morning? I'm mostly caught up on my homework and was going to take a walk after breakfast. Join me?_

_D_

Harry turned to Ron and asked him, "Did you have something special in mind for this morning?"

"Nah, I just thought Hermione could stand a few hours away from her books. She's preparing for NEWTs already! We should get her to do something outside while we've got her agreeing to give herself a small break."

Harry smiled at Ron, fished for a quill in his bag, and wrote his response at the bottom of the parchment.

_D,_

_I'm not sure. I guess the jury is still out because we didn't discuss it. Ron and I just convinced Hermione not to go to the library. I'd love to join you, but I don't want to abandon them. Could you stand all three of us again so soon?_

_H_

He rolled the scroll back up and tied it to the owl's leg. "There you go," he said as he sent her on her way with another small piece of toast. Harry didn't see Draco at the Slytherin table yet, so he guessed he had stayed at the Owlery so no one would see the bird leave Harry and fly right over to Draco. They weren't exactly concealing their friendship, but they weren't advertising it either.

At short time later, Harry saw him enter the Great Hall. Their eyes met for a moment, and Draco gave him a small nod of acceptance. Harry turned to Ron. "So, I was thinking we could take a walk — you know like yesterday?"

Ron's eyes widened but otherwise he kept a remarkably straight face. "Yeah, the weather's so nice; it's a good day for a turn around the lake."

Again, Harry smiled at Ron. He was happy that Ron was OK with his friendship with Draco, but he was thrilled that Ron was going out of his way to be nice to his old nemesis.

After they were all done with their meals, the three of them went out the main doors of the castle. Hermione turned to the two boys and asked, "So, what are we doing?"

"Well, I think we're waiting here for Malfoy to join us, and then we're going for a walk down to the lake or something." Ron looked at Harry as if to confirm that he had understood correctly.

"Exactly. He sent me an owl this morning asking if I'd like to join him, and I told him that it would have to be all three of us if I did." He shrugged. "He agreed, but we didn't exactly set a time and a place. It would have looked funny if the owl came back so soon after I sent it off."

He had nothing to worry about though, because at that moment, Draco opened the doors and started down the stairs.

"Draco, you didn't have to cut your breakfast short just because we were done. We could have waited for a bit."

"That's OK. I don't eat much breakfast most days."

Like the day before, they walked two-by-two down to the lake. Draco and Harry were first, and Draco started telling Harry a funny story about his Charms class. It seemed that Zabini had gotten a bit overenthusiastic with his swish and flick and sent the teacup he was trying to charm into a different color to blinking rapidly through the color spectrum. When he tried to stop it, he sent it spinning around the room. When they reached the lake, Draco jumped up on a rock.

"Now Mr. Zabini," he started in a spot on imitation of their diminutive Charms professor standing on his stack of books, "Please just put your wand down. No, no, no, Mr. Zabini, down." Harry sat himself on the grass and laughed up at Draco. Ron came and sat across from Harry.

"Professor Flitwick!" Ron raised his hand like a student in class. Harry was happy to see that he seemed to be enjoying Draco's performance.

"Just one moment, Mr. Weasley. I have to stop that teacup before it decapitates someone." Harry was equally glad to see that Draco was making an effort to be himself around Ron.

"But, Professor Flitwick, my teacup just tried to bite me."

Hermione flopped down next to Harry and giggled at Draco and Ron's antics.

"Well, Mr. Weasley, what did you do to anger your teacup? Perhaps if you talked soothingly to it and stroked its handle, it wouldn't want to bite you."

Harry guffawed loudly at this last reference to the _Monster Book of Monsters,_ and Draco turned to him with a raised eyebrow. Suddenly, he leapt off of the rock and loomed over Harry. His next words were in the silky, snide tones usually heard in the dungeons. "Perhaps Mr. Potter, since you find this so funny, you can help Mr. Weasley with his teacup. Both of you, detention this evening with Filch and 50 points from Gryffindor. Each."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all dissolved into giggles as Draco turned on his heel and marched away. Ron pointed to Draco legs. "He even got his robes to swirl around," he choked out between laughs. Hermione recovered first and walked up to Draco who was standing and looking imperiously at them from a few feet away.

"Really, Severus, is that necessary? Don't you think you are being a bit harsh on them?" She pretended to look over a set of glasses at Draco, and did a pretty good impression of McGonagall's slight burr.

"Minerva, I love it when you're condescending." Draco grabbed Hermione and bent her backwards and pretended to kiss her. By the time they were both standing, they had lost their composure, and everyone was laughing.

#

By the next day, Harry couldn't take it anymore. He had to know why Ron and Hermione watched him so closely when they spent time with Draco. They seemed to have relaxed their watch on Draco, but the scrutiny had not lessened on Harry. He waited until the common room was mostly empty and Hermione was away at the library to try to talk to Ron.

"So, Ron, what do you think of Draco?"

Ron looked up from the Quidditch manual he was looking through for strategies Gryffindor could use in the games. "He seems pretty OK, Harry. He's way different than I thought he would be. It's kind of odd to be spending time with him."

"Yeah, it still feels funny to me sometimes." Harry paused and looked down at the Charms text he was reading. Casually, he ventured, "So, Draco was wondering if he passed inspection."

Ron laughed but looked thoughtful. "Yeah, he did great."

"I thought so. You both seemed to relax after a while. But… see… I couldn't be sure because I still felt like you were both watching me really carefully. Did I do something wrong?"

"Oh, Harry, no! We had just noticed how often Malfoy came up in conversation lately and were wondering if you had started to like him, you know, _like him_.

"Ron, no! Of course I didn't." Harry was horrified.

"OK, OK, if you say so." Ron put up his hands to defuse Harry's loud reaction. "But, Harry, it would be OK if you did, you know. I really don't care if you start to date boys."

"Who are you and what have you done with Ron Weasley?"

"What?" Ron sounded genuinely puzzled.

"You are entirely too mature to be the boy I used to know as Ron Weasley."

"Ha bloody ha." Ron had already gone back to his book, and Harry was just as glad to end the conversation. Liking boys was one thing. Liking Draco Malfoy was something else altogether. Harry wasn't sure why he felt so strongly about it. He only knew that he didn't want to talk about it right now.

#

The afternoon talks with Draco were awkward that week. If Draco noticed, he didn't bring it up. Harry felt like he had split into two people. One person continued to spend time with Draco as before. The other watched from a comfortable distance. The watcher noticed when Harry laughed at Draco's jokes and stood too closely for platonic friends, but his observations had no effect on the doer. He stood back and yelled, "NO!" as the doer touched Draco's arm to make a point, but the doer's hand continued to linger on Draco's arm longer than necessary. The watcher realized that Ron was right: He was behaving like he had a crush on Draco. And he didn't like it.

Mostly, when Harry tried to think about it, he started to feel panicky and flushed. Suddenly, he noticed every time he started to bring Draco's name up in conversation with Hermione and Ron. He had also developed a distressing tendency to think, "I can't wait to tell Draco that" or "Draco would think this was funny" or other similar phrases at the most inopportune time. When he thought back, he realized he had been doing it before but only started noticing after the conversation with Ron. All of the emotions that he had controlled in other aspects of his life seemed to be coming out in his relationship with Draco. Through the haze of panic and denial, Harry wasn't having any luck resolving what to do. He realized that he really wanted to write in his journal, but he knew that he couldn't risk it. Then, he remembered burning his journal at the beginning of the year and realized he could easily write on a piece of parchment and then burn it once he was done with it. He just had to find a private place to write.

The next day, Harry found his way to his Occlumency study room and settled down with a hefty roll of parchment to work out what he was feeling about Draco. "Start at the beginning," he mumbled aloud. Harry pulled out one of his trusty ballpoints and started writing about the day that Draco asked Harry to give him a second chance.

An hour later, Harry had committed most of the events to paper. He started to read them over and realized that he hadn't really started at the beginning. After all, he and Draco had known each other since first year. They had done nothing but antagonize each other for years. But they never talked about any of that. It was like they were both trying to pretend it hadn't happened.

Suddenly, Harry realized what was going on. True, his body had a crush on Draco Malfoy. But his mind still hadn't let go of all of the past antagonism. Because they never talked about past events, Harry could usually ignore them. But his inner self wanted the person he was with to be someone he could trust completely. How could he possibly trust Draco if they never talked about anything but school and Quidditch? A huge part of Harry's mind still thought of Draco Malfoy as the spoiled git who was going to be on the opposite side of the battlefield when the time came.

Harry got up and walked over to the fireplace. _"Incendio,"_ he said lazily, his mind still on his recent revelation. Harry watch the flames flare up and dropped his parchment into the center of it. 'We have to talk — really talk — or our friendship will never move beyond the surface. He might not feel the same way as I do, but he started this by telling me he wanted me to trust him.' By the time his recent writings were reduced to ashes, he knew what he had to do.

#

_I'm back from vacation, and I hope you like this latest installment. _


	10. Chapter 10

"Harry, you've been really quiet today." Draco sounded concerned. "What's up?"

Harry knew this was the opening he had been waiting for. Still, he didn't look up from his contemplation of his shoes. While the parchment was being reduced to ashes, it was easy to tell himself that he needed to push his relationship with Draco and bring up some of those forbidden topics. Now that he had his opening, he was scared to take it. Scared because he knew that asking Draco questions about his childhood would mean he would have to be equally open about his own. Scared because part of him still didn't quite trust that Draco wasn't gathering information to bring back to his father or Voldemort. But mostly, he was scared that Draco would reject his offer of a deeper relationship. Well, he thought to himself, the hat had no intention of putting you in Hufflepuff. If Ron can get up the courage to ask Hermione out, you can ask Draco a simple question about his childhood. Get it over with.

"Draco, tell me about the hawk."

"??"

"The day you made your Patronus, you said there was a hawk near the manor that you used to watch as a child."

"I did?"

"Yeah, you did. But if you don't want to talk about it, that's OK." Harry hunted about for a safe topic. He supposed that answered that question. It was hard to come up with something safe to talk about when his stomach was tied in knots.

"No, that's fine. I was just surprised you remembered."

"Course I remember. It was only a few weeks ago. But, well, that was all you said. I was just wondering what it would be like to see a real hawk. That Patronus of yours is the closest I've ever come."

"The Manor is quite isolated, so I would see all kinds of wildlife when I could walk beyond the park. But I could see the hawk from my bedroom window. It was reddish with white patches near the edges of its wings, and it was simply enormous when it flew."

"Sounds impressive."

"Mmm. I would see it wheeling around in the air and looking for prey. Sometimes, there would be two of them, and they would fly at each other. It looked like they were fighting, but it was actually a mating thing. Mostly, I would see the one while he was hunting for food. I would think about how much time he spent hunting to bring back enough food for his mate and their chicks. It always sort of amazed me."

"What were you doing in your bedroom watching the hawk? I mean, you said there was lots of other wildlife beyond the park."

Draco paused for a moment. "I wasn't allowed to wander freely. Father made sure the tutors kept a strict eye, or they were fired."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to … um." Harry trailed off as he realized this was exactly what he did mean to do. Getting closer to Draco and learning to trust him meant talking about uncomfortable childhoods. "I didn't have a lot of freedom either. The Dursleys always made sure I couldn't get out and meet other people."

"The Dursleys?"

"My aunt and uncle raised me."

"Oh. Where?"

"Surrey." Harry chewed his lip as he tried to think of something to say that wouldn't sound pathetic. "I guess the closest we came to wildlife was Mrs. Figgs' cats. My cousin, Dudley, used to like to throw stones at them."

"He sounds like a real charmer."

"Definitely. He's a real joy to live with. I couldn't even get away from him at school because he and his friends would get together and pick on me there, too. You would think I would have realized something was strange about me when I ended up on the roof that time they were chasing me."

"You did what?"

"I really don't know what I did. Dudley and his friends were chasing me. I was always much littler than they were, so they were gaining on me. I vaguely remember wishing I could get somewhere far away and safe. The next thing I knew, I was on the roof. I didn't know magic existed, so I just assumed I didn't remember climbing up. I guess it was unintentional magic."

"That's some pretty intense unintentional magic. You really didn't know that magic existed? I knew that you were brought up by Muggles, but I didn't realize you didn't know."

"Oh, yeah. No idea until I got my letter."

"How'd they explain the scar?"

Harry felt his jaw tighten. Somehow, this one lie still had the ability to enrage him. "They told me I got it in the car crash when my parents died."

"That's really lame. I mean, it's obviously a very wonky scar. Surely even Muggles could see that."

"Oh, they knew my parents didn't die in a car crash. But, that's all they would say, and I certainly didn't know better."

"I don't get it."

"Well, they couldn't tell me the truth, could they? Not if they wanted to continue to pretend magic wasn't real in the hopes that they could beat it out of me."

"Wow, I thought my father was crazy. Of course, if magic didn't exist, you probably weren't practicing spells and making potions when you were underage and punished if you couldn't do them correctly."

"True. But they usually found reasons to punish me in any case."

Draco looked assessingly at Harry. "I guess we have more in common that we thought."

"I guess so."

_The bird Draco is describing is a red kite. For more information about them and some pictures, visit __/redkite.html__._

#

Before they knew it, it was time to head back in for dinner. As they were descending the stairs of the Quidditch stands, Harry was looking forward to getting inside. Warming charms were useful, but he was still starting to feel the chill.

Draco turned to Harry. "Wait a minute. If you didn't know about magic and your relatives were Muggles, where'd you learn to fly?"

"What do you mean? You were there."

"Huh?"

"My first time on a broom, I was chasing you for Neville's Remembrall. I would think you would remember that since you got me on the team first year."

"_That_ was your first time on a broom?"

"Of course. People don't generally fly brooms around Surrey."

"But you had to have learned before that. There's no way you could have picked it up so fast."

"It's the only part of magic that's ever came naturally to me. Plus, I was so pissed at you. I just _had_ to get that Remembrall back. I didn't stop to think that I shouldn't be able to."

"Un-bloody-believable."

Harry smirked.

#

That conversation proved to be the start of a new phase in Harry and Draco's relationship. Now that Harry had let Draco know that the previously forbidden topics were open game, he talked and asked about everything. They compared notes on their families, friends, teachers, and classes; they spoke of the differences between Gryffindor and Slytherin, dark and light magic, and even wizards and Muggles. In a very short time, they learned a great deal about each other.

Harry had learned how the Malfoys spent their Christmas holidays skiing in Switzerland; Draco learned how Harry got his first real Christmas presents after getting to Hogwarts. Harry learned how Lucius Malfoy managed every aspect of Draco's upbringing because of his goal of raising his idea of the perfect heir. Draco learned how the Dursleys ignored Harry unless they had a job for him. They both learned about each other's desire for more time spent with their mothers. Draco's mother wasn't dead; she had simply been absent for most of his life — shopping, visiting friends, or closeted in her rooms at the Manor.

Weeks passed, and Harry felt closer to Draco than he had thought possible. Halloween gave way to the hint of coming winter in November grey skies. However, the little voice in Harry's head screaming "no" whenever he got too close to Draco was certainly not silenced. Instead, the reason it was screaming changed. Now, Harry would have been happy to be dating Draco. However, he assumed that Draco wasn't interested. Harry supposed that Draco was straight since all of the Slytherin girls were always hanging off of him. He didn't want Draco to learn of his feelings because he didn't want Draco to feel uncomfortable hanging out with him. Despite Ron's and Hermione's assurances, Harry was sure he was one of the few with homosexual feelings. If it was so common, how come he had never met a gay Wizard couple? As a consequence, Harry was on his guard against too much touching and standing or sitting too close. However, he still found himself breaking his own rules on a regular basis.

The pressure was getting to him. He would find himself jumpy and emotional at the end of an hour. Afterwards, he would sit in the Gryffindor common room and stare at his schoolbooks without being able to read them. His infatuation with Draco was starting to affect his studies. He knew something had to give and decided it was time he asked for help. However, this was something that Ron and Hermione couldn't help him with.

#

"Professor Snape, do you have some time to talk?" Harry and Snape had just completed one of their private lessons. Harry was a bit sore since this session had been dedicated to practical defense lessons. But, his mind was clear and still all his own. He'd rather dive hexes than block Snape's mind attacks any day.

"I have about an hour before I need to be anywhere in particular. What can I help you with?" Snape had unbent a little in the weeks of lessons as Harry continued to show him respect and apply himself to his teaching. But his idea of relaxed was still considerably more formal that Harry was used to.

"Well, do you remember when I mentioned that Draco and I might be getting friendly?" Snape nodded, and Harry continued. "You had said you would be available to offer advice since you knew the Malfoys pretty well."

"Indeed. I assume you find yourself needing my insight?"

"Yes, sir." He paused as he tried to think how to phrase his question. Discussing something bordering on his sex life with one of his professors was not high on his list of favorite things. "You know that I was raised by Muggles and pretty isolated even from other Muggles." Again, Snape nodded, and Harry continued. "I was hoping you could give me some insight into how wizards, especially purebloods, felt about dating other wizards." Harry could feel his face redden as he realized how easy it would be for Snape to figure out what he was really asking about.

Snape raised one eyebrow. "You came to me for advice on your sex life?"

He should have known that Snape wouldn't beat around the bush. "Well, I know that you won't sugarcoat the truth, sir."

"Ah."

How did he manage to pack so much meaning into one syllable? "Look, I'm sure that you can guess why I'm asking. I just want to know whether he's likely to still be willing to be my friend when he finds out I'm not entirely heterosexual."

"So, you aren't, for instance, hoping he shares your preferences?"

"I- I-," Harry spluttered. He stopped to collect his thoughts. "I don't expect that, sir." Again, the eyebrow was raised. "OK, I wouldn't exactly be disappointed if he did. But I know it's not going to happen."

"What makes you so sure?"

"This isn't getting me the answer to my question."

"In a roundabout way, it will. So, tell me what makes you sure that Draco isn't also, as you say, 'entirely heterosexual.'"

"Well, there always seem to be plenty of girls hanging around him." Snape didn't say anything. Harry assumed this meant that didn't seem like convincing evidence to Snape. "Well, umm, he went to the Winter Ball with Pansy. Of course, I brought Padma, and we weren't dating, so I guess that doesn't really mean anything either." Harry thought about it. He supposed the main reason he assumed Draco liked girls was because he assumed everyone was straight. "I guess I don't have a good reason."

"Exactly. I think you will find that your opinions about Draco and other people say more about your own assumptions than about the real state of affairs. You are sure you are the only one who shares your orientation, so you make assumptions."

"OK. But how does that help me?"

"You assume Draco will be disgusted because you are still not comfortable with your own feelings."

"Maybe."

"I believe you will find that if you learn to accept your own orientation as normal, other people's opinions won't matter so much."

"But that won't stop them from having them."

"Also true. But other people are much more likely to see you as 'normal' if you see yourself as such."

"That's not telling me if being gay is likely to be acceptable in pureblooded Wizarding circles."

"No, it isn't. I think you will find that Wizarding culture is not easily simplified any more than Muggle culture is. There are wide varieties even within such a select group as pureblooded Wizards. After all, that group encompasses some very diverse people — Weasleys, Malfoys, and many points in between."

"Well, I was mostly curious about the Malfoy end of the spectrum."

"I can tell you that Lucius Malfoy was willing to accept such preferences in a friend but not in himself. It was important for him to continue the Malfoy line, so he could not accept anything that might interfere with that plan. It is likely that he has tried to pass those feelings on to his son. However, you might have recently come into possession of knowledge that might indicate that young Mr. Malfoy has started to question some of his father's teachings. So, I would say that how he feels about it is something that you might be more qualified to say at this point."

"So, all of that to say you don't know."

"Would you prefer I lie to you?"

"No, I suppose not." Harry looked down at his shoes and thought about what he had learned from Snape. "Thank you for trying to help, sir." He wondered if the friend Snape was referring to was himself, but he had learned his lesson about prying into Snape's private life the hard way and wasn't about to make that mistake again.

"Mr. Potter, no matter what Draco thinks, I think you will find that you are better off letting him tell you rather than trying to guess and torturing yourself with possibilities."

"Yes, sir."

#

Harry thought a lot about what Snape said. However, he couldn't work up the nerve to tell Draco he was gay or bisexual or whatever he was. He was afraid that if Draco knew that he liked boys, he might figure what boy he liked in particular. Every time he thought of that, Harry felt his cheeks redden in humiliation. He simply could not imagine a good ending to that conversation.

Harry and Draco spent time together after almost every DADA class. Now that the cold usually forced them to stay in the castle, they had to be more careful not to be seen by the other Slytherins. Their new Defense skills came in handy as they sometimes used Disillusionment Charms or other techniques to avoid being seen or heard. Occasionally, Harry longed to talk with Draco in the other classes they shared or to walk up to him in the Great Hall. But most of the time, he was too well aware of the danger he was putting Draco in to want anyone to know of their friendship. If he forgot briefly, something would remind him: news of Death Eater raids, lessons with Snape and Dumbledore, or a casual cruelty of one student towards another.

He didn't really think about the difficulties of no one knowing about their friendship until the day that Draco didn't show up in classes. Harry had no idea where Draco was, but he knew that it wasn't like him to skive off classes for no good reason. He couldn't ask Pansy or Goyle where Draco was without arousing suspicion. He told himself that he could wait until Potions and find a way to ask Snape, but he was distracted all through his other lessons. When he got to Potions, he realized he would have to wait until after class. Even then, he would have to be discreet because someone might be listening.

He spent so much of his class trying to think how to ask Snape where Draco was that his potion suffered. He put his phial on the desk to be graded with the others and noticed it was most definitely not the same color. Hermione's potion was a clear cerulean blue. The rest of the class' were various shades of the same color. Some were darker or lighter; others were cloudy. Harry's was a violent shade of purple. Obviously he had done something very wrong.

Harry shook off his concerns about his potion and saw Snape looking at him with an eyebrow raised. "Professor Snape, do you have a moment?"

"Did you have a question that I didn't answer during my lecture?" Snape's tone was somewhat sarcastic but not as confrontational as it once would have been.

"Yes, sir." Harry got out his potions book and pointed at the reading for the next class. He pointed at the page where he had stuck in a note that simply read, 'Is Draco OK?' "I was wondering if you could explain what it is talking about here with the three methods of stirring."

"Are you reading ahead, Mr. Potter?"

"Just trying to keep on top of my assignments, sir."

"Well, I think you will find that there is an adequate explanation of the three methods and which methods work on which potions in this reading." He had leaned over his desk and started writing as he spoke to Harry. Now, Harry looked down at the parchment that was handed to him and read, 'Infirmary' and the name of a book on potions in Snape's clear hand.

"Thank you, sir. I appreciate your suggestion." Harry fled the Potions room and headed to the Great Hall on autopilot. What had happened? Why was Draco in the Infirmary? His mind raced as he tried to think of a decent excuse to leave lunch early and head up to the Infirmary before his afternoon classes.

"Harry, are you OK? You look kind of pale." Harry grasped at Hermione's concern like a lifeline.

"You know, I am feeling a bit off. I think I'll go see Madame Pomfrey."

Hermione's eyes widened at Harry's easy willingness to visit the school nurse. Ron looked up in surprise from the lunch he was wolfing down. "It's nothing big. Just a bit of a headache, but I really botched my potion because of it. I think I need to be a bit more attentive in Herbology this afternoon since we're working with the Tentacular Vines." He smiled at them both casually. He could tell they both knew something else was up, but now wasn't the time to explain. He quickly finished the sandwich he was eating and headed up to the Hospital Wing.

When he reached his destination, he searched the beds for Draco. He didn't see him or Madame Pomfrey, but he noticed partitions around one of the beds at the far end of the ward. He quietly snuck down until he was right outside the barrier. He could hear the quiet voices of Madame Pomfrey and Dumbledore. Instantly, the concern that Harry had been feeling turned to panic as he realized that Draco must have been hurt pretty badly if Dumbledore was here. Without thinking, he pushed aside one of the partitions and stepped inside. He had to see for himself.

When he looked at the bed, Harry felt his knees weaken. Draco looked awful. He had bruises all over his face and one long cut over his left eye. The sheet covering him was only pulled to his waist, and his chest was bared to Madam Pomfrey's wand. His ribcage was a collage of bruises, bumps, and scrapes.

"Will he be OK?" The words were out of Harry mouth before he consciously thought them. Madame Pomfrey whirled in surprise, but Dumbledore only nodded to him.

"Harry Potter, what are you doing here?"

Harry didn't even acknowledge Madame Pomfrey's question. Instead, he turned to Dumbledore. "Yes?"

Again the quiet nod of assurance. "Yes, my boy, Mr. Malfoy will be fit as a fiddle in no time. However, I am not sure that we can prevent this from happening a second time."

"What happened?"

"It seems that some of Mr. Malfoy's classmates have come to view him as a traitor."

"Oh, shit."

"Language!" Madame Pomfrey still looked shocked to see him, but she had turned back to her patient. Harry knew from his plentiful time under her healing wand that she would deal with any internal or spell damage before moving on to the superficial cuts and bruises. That was actually what worried him. He knew that if she hadn't gotten to the cut above his eye that was still red and angry, his other, non-visible, injuries must be quite bad.

"Indeed, Mr. Potter. It seems that your new friendship has not gone unnoticed." He held up a hand to forestall Harry's protests. "I know you two have been careful, but it is difficult to keep secrets in a closed environment like Hogwarts."

"What did you mean when you said you weren't sure you could stop this from happening again?"

"Well, now that the secret is out, Mr. Malfoy is, more or less, sleeping with poisonous asps."

"Can he move out?"

"That is what I would like to arrange. But, I will need your assistance in convincing a few people to go along with my plans."

Harry and Dumbledore made an appointment to speak after classes that day. Harry was convinced to go to classes as usual to keep up appearances only after Madame Pomfrey assured him Draco wouldn't be waking up until after supper.

#

_Thanks for all the supportive reviews. They definitely help motivate me to keep going. I was stuck for a bit on the part that I'm still writing (don't worry; there's still plenty already written) and knowing I've got readers waiting for the next installment helps keep me going.  
_

_I also wanted to thank everyone who reviewed or set an alert because I've been mining your favorite stories for fun new things to read for myself. After all, if you have the good taste to like my story, I might just like some other stuff you're reading ;)_


	11. Chapter 11

It seemed like Dumbledore thought this was a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Or, more exactly, save two birds with one plan. He wanted to get Professor Snape out of danger by having him stop spying, and he wanted to get Draco out of danger by moving him out of the Slytherin dorms and into rooms of his own. He was all set to arrange rooms adjoining Professor Snape's and appoint him as Draco's unofficial guardian. He thought that if both of them openly acknowledged their allegiances to the light and were on the alert for attacks on the other, it might make it more difficult for anyone to get one up on them. In addition, he was hoping it would convince some of the people sitting on the fence to throw their lot in with their Head of House and one of their most well known members.

"I don't understand. You've got this plan. What do you need me for?" Harry was genuinely puzzled.

"As I mentioned, I was hoping you could help me convince them to go along with my plans."

Harry just furrowed his brow further in puzzlement.

"Surely you know that both of them have the highest respect for you." Dumbledore said this quietly while fussing with his teacup. There was no indication of Armageddon, so Harry was fairly sure the world would continue and Professor Snape would continue to hate him.

"I guess I might be able to help with Draco, but I'm sure that if I told Professor Snape that I thought your plan was a good one he would be more likely to reject it in spite of the fact that he is going to get himself killed if he keeps going to those meetings."

"Quite." Despite his matter-of-fact tones, Harry thought the Dumbledore might have been a bit surprised at the blunt way that Harry put Snape's predicament. Harry was working fairly closely with both of them this year and had noticed the times when Snape looked a bit ragged. He figured that if Snape looked a bit ragged, it was more likely that he was actually seriously injured.

"You are correct, Harry. I wouldn't advise a direct endorsement of my plan in Professor Snape's hearing. However, you know first hand what it is like to feel helpless and like you aren't being allowed to help. Professor Snape needs to keep active in the fight against Voldemort or he is likely to be quite … unhappy."

"But he would still be helping!" The strident tones coming out of his mouth took him by surprise. He supposed he hadn't realized how important Snape had become in his life. "He still knows the Death Eaters and how they are likely to react better than anyone. He's had years to observe them. Plus, he's been really helpful with my training. I'm starting to feel like I might actually win this battle and well … if I don't, it's not going to matter much, is it?"

"That, my dear boy, is what I would like to use to convince Professor Snape. First, I need your permission to disclose the full prophecy to him."

"I thought he already knew."

"No, Harry, I have only shown it to you. It is too important that the information doesn't get leaked in any way. Plus, it is about you. No one else should hear it without your full permission."

"Oh. Well, if you think it will help, I don't have any problem with him knowing."

Dumbledore nodded. "Secondly, I would like your help in convincing him that his training has been helpful to you. He seems to think that anyone from the Order could be helping you."

"But that's not true. I don't imagine many of them know as much about Death Eater tactics and how to counter them. Plus, he really strict with me, so I can't slack off no matter how much I want to sometimes."

"Well, Severus, I think you heard more than you intended to. Perhaps you could come all of the way in now."

Harry spun around in his chair and nearly knocked over the teacup sitting neglected on a small, spindly table next to his chair. Professor Snape was standing in the doorway looking at Dumbledore with a slightly irritated look on his face. Very quickly, his normal expressionless mask was in place, and he was sitting gracefully in the other chair in front of the Headmaster's desk.

"As appreciated as that completely unexpected compliment was, I fail to see why you are soliciting such opinions from Mr. Potter."

"Well, Severus, I was asking Harry's permission to show you the prophecy in an effort to convince you that your efforts to train him are vital to the success of our cause."

Professor Snape merely raised one expressive eyebrow. Dumbledore wasted no time and was already summoning his Pensieve from a shelf. It landed lightly on his desk, and he looked up at the two men facing him. Without further comment, he put his wand into the swirling liquid and drew it out. Very shortly, the silvery shadow of Trelawney was hovering in mid air. Harry had seen all of this before and could recite the full prophecy from memory. So, instead of listening, he let the hoarse tones of Trelanwey's voice drone without hearing the words. Instead, he watched Snape's face for any sign of what the man was thinking.

When her shadow had retreated back into Dumbledore's Pensieve, no one spoke for a few moments. Dumbledore was busy putting together a cup of tea for Snape, and Harry was too busy watching Snape to notice that his own cup had been quietly warmed up by the Headmaster.

"So, the Dark Lord is not just unnaturally obsessed with Mr. Potter. He needs to defeat him." Snape seemed to be avoiding looking at Harry and directed his comments at Dumbledore as if Harry was no longer in the room.

"Exactly. Now, do you understand why I have emphasized how important your sessions with Mr. Potter are?"

"I can see why you feel that it is vital to make sure that Mr. Potter is more prepared for his … role. However, I still contend that it is not necessary that I teach him what he needs to know."

"I think Harry explained exactly why it is important that you continue your training just a few minutes ago. He may not have known you were listening, but I could not have expressed my opinion any better."

Dumbledore's statement seemed to remind Snape that Harry was still sitting beside him. He turned to Harry, but his next sentence was still directed at the Headmaster. "Yes, well, this is the same boy who refused to learn Occlumency last year even though he knew the risks not learning exposed him to."

"Not quite." Dumbledore waited until he had Snape's full attention. "I'm afraid that Harry was not as aware of the risks as you seem to believe. He only learned of the prophecy after the incident at the Ministry of Magic last year. I'm afraid that I kept putting off telling him about it in a vain attempt to allow him to have a more normal childhood. In addition, I could not tell him of the prophecy because I could not be certain of what Voldemort would learn from his unprotected mind. Therefore, I only gave him the vaguest idea of why he would want to learn how to block Voldemort's access."

Harry watched as a tendon in Snape's jaw jumped. It looked as if Snape was clenching his jaw while looking down at the teacup in his hands in an attempt to regain control before he said something unwise to his supervisor. However, both Harry and Dumbledore were very aware of the anger he was trying to tamp down on.

"And you thought nothing of wasting my time with a boy who did not want to learn what I had to teach him?"

"I cannot express how much I regret my … lapse in judgment on this count."

In one of those sudden moves that kept his classes always on their guard, Snape spun to face Harry and studied him closely for few moments before speaking. "What, exactly, did you think the Order was trying to protect last year? What were you hoping to learn from my memories?"

Harry bit his lip but braced himself to reply. "A weapon." There was only a short pause but a slightly raised eyebrow from Snape encouraged him to explain further. "I figured that there was some weapon that had been developed to defeat Voldemort that was hidden at the Ministry. I kept having these dreams all year where I almost got to the door. I thought that Voldemort was planning how to get in and steal it and was dreaming and anticipating his success. He seemed so excited. I didn't realize he was just planting that in the hopes of luring me there because I didn't realize he could do that. I figured if I could just stay asleep long enough for the dream to end, I would learn what it was that everyone was hiding from me." He bit his lip again, and his next sentence was directed to his hands that were in his lap. "It was stupid, and I should have realized what was going on or just trusted that the Headmaster knew what was best."

"I can see how your curiosity would be piqued under such circumstances."

Harry figured this was as close to forgiveness for looking in his Pensieve as he was likely to get from his professor and nodded in agreement, but he didn't say anything more. He didn't want to ruin anything but speaking out of turn.

"As you can see, Harry has changed his outlook on his studies and his extra lessons since he learned of his fate. As you also heard, he thinks that your expertise and experience is invaluable. I agree with him on those points and would like to add that I only wish we could have avoided some of last year's unfortunate events if I had been more open with you both." Dumbledore took a sip of his tea and then put it down very deliberately. "Now, Harry, I believe you had something you wanted to do right after dinner. Perhaps you would like to go down and have a quick meal before it gets too late."

With this dismissal, Harry quickly found himself on the other side of the door. He quelled the urge to stay and listen to the rest of Snape and Dumbledore's conversation and jumped on the already rotating staircase and headed down to the Great Hall. Dumbledore was right, he could make it to the Infirmary quicker and less obviously if he ate dinner early before most of the students came down for their meal.

#

Harry was reading over his Transfiguration text while he waited for Draco to wake up later in the evening. Madame Pomfrey had obviously received orders from the Headmaster to let Harry stay at Draco's bedside, but that didn't mean the nurse was convinced it was a good idea. She was always quite protective of her patients' privacy and peace while they were recovering. She was somewhat mollified when Harry wasn't accompanied by anyone else and only sat down to wait for Draco to wake up.

He was going over a certain flick of the wrist that was necessary for the next day's lesson when a weak voice spoke up, "Better watch where you're pointing that thing. I don't think I could take an accidental hex at this point."

"You're awake!" Harry was grinning in relief to see Draco's eyes finally open.

"No, actually, you're just hallucinating, and I am evil plant of the Dark Lord to make you think you are talking to Draco Malfoy."

Harry hadn't told Draco all of the details of his stupidity from last year, and his comments were a bit too close to the mark for Harry's comfort. With his earlier conversation with Dumbledore and Snape, it was in the forefront of his mind, and he couldn't muster up a smile for Draco's witticism.

"God, Harry, you look like your pet died. I'm not that bad, am I?"

"You're not my pet, Draco, and you're not dead."

"That's good to hear, on both counts."

Harry helped Draco sit up and poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the side table and then helped him take a few sips. He knew from experience that Draco was most likely parched.

"Thanks." Draco sat back on the pillows that Harry had stacked up behind his back. "Why'd you look so spooked?"

"Oh, it was a bit too close to my reality last year for me to laugh at it." Harry tried to shrug it off, but he knew that Draco had heard enough of the story to figure out that he was trying to avoid mentioning Sirius.

"Sorry."

"You couldn't know." Harry met Draco's eyes and remembered why he was sitting in the Infirmary when he saw the bruises still visible on Draco's face. "It's not important. I have to go get Madame Pomfrey. She made me promise to get her as soon as you woke up."

Fifteen minutes later, Madame Pomfrey was satisfied that Draco was recovering according to plan, and she had delivered a tray of food with strict instructions for him to eat everything on his plate. She retreated to her office with one last firm look at Harry to remind him of his promise not to upset her patient.

"I'm awfully glad you're doing better. You looked pretty bad this afternoon. I … was kind of upset when I first saw you."

Draco raised an eyebrow, and Harry wondered if Snape gave lessons in how to do that to all of the Slytherins. "How'd you know what happened?"

"I didn't — not exactly. When you weren't in class, I asked Snape, and he told me you were up here. I never did get the details. What happened?"

"A bunch of guys cornered me in the showers this morning. They waited until I was unarmed and had shampoo in my eyes. I don't even know who exactly it was since my eyes were closed and my back was turned. One minute I was scrubbing my hair and the next there was this huge pain between my shoulder blades. Then, I woke up here."

"Cowards."

"I'm sure they thought they had planned their attack carefully to ensure success."

Harry just shook his head. He might be able to understand that sort of thought process, but that didn't mean he didn't want to hex the culprits within an inch of their lives. As he realized how livid he was at the unknown people who had attacked Draco, he realized he couldn't ignore his feeling anymore. "Draco, I … um …" he trailed off. He really wasn't sure how to say this; but in true Gryffindor fashion, he plunged on. "I was kind of frantic when I found out you were hurt because of me." Harry put up his hand to hold off Draco's protests. "OK, I know it wasn't my fault. I meant that they probably saw us together, and they decided to attack you."

At Draco's nod, he continued. "So, I realized that you had become really important to me. I don't really have any experience with this sort of thing but I … thinkiminlovewithyou." He finished in a rush and couldn't look Draco in the face. After a minute, the silence had become too much for Harry, and he looked up. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he was sure the look of joy on Draco's face wasn't it. "You don't look too upset by that. That's good because I think Madame Pomfrey would have my head if I upset you when you're supposed to be recovering." The joke was lame, and his delivery was a bit off since he was still feeling quite nervous.

"Upset. Hmm … no, I'm not upset. Or, at least, I won't be unless you don't come over here and kiss me."

Harry didn't need to be told twice. He jumped up and leaned over Draco's bed. He tentatively touched his lips to Draco's and was surprised by the flip in his belly. He pulled back a few centimeters and a soft groan came up from his chest and eased out from his lips. He wasn't aware he'd closed his eyes, but now they came open and focused on Draco's eyes, which were already watching him closely. They smiled at each other, and this time, Draco moved forward to touch his lips to Harry's. The kiss was soft and gentle but less tentative than the last. Draco's lips parted slightly, and he grabbed Harry's lower lip with his two.

Harry felt his knees give, and he tried to sit down. He hit fairly hard, and he was too close to the edge of the chair. In a minute, the chair had upset, and his butt was on the unforgiving stone floor of the Infirmary. Draco and Harry looked at each other and laughed.

"Real graceful, Harry. With moves like that, it's not a surprise I fell for you."

Harry didn't have a chance to respond before Madame Pomfrey came bustling out in response to the clatter of the chair. She was most displeased with Harry for upsetting her patient and wouldn't listen to his explanations. Soon, he was packed up and heading back to Gryffindor tower. He didn't have a chance to talk to Draco any further. However, he did extract a promise that he could come back after classes the next day.

#

The next day, Harry rushed out of his last class and to the Hospital Wing. He knew he had to talk to Draco about Dumbledore's plan before Madame Pomfrey cleared him to return to classes. He had heard from Dumbledore that Snape would agree if Draco agreed.

"Draco, did Dumbledore explain what he wanted to do?" He wasn't sure what exactly they were supposed to do about his confession and their kiss yesterday. So, he went right to the point.

"Yeah, I'm not really sure what to do. If I move out, everyone will know. I don't know what people will do. I might not be close friends with most of them, but that doesn't mean I want them all hating me."

"Maybe some of them will surprise you."

"Doubtful."

"Draco, I can't tell you everything will be perfect. I know what it's like to have people you thought you knew turn on you. It's not easy. But, I think your chances are better if you move out than if you stay there. At least if you move out, all of our cards will be on the table, and it will be harder for them to gang up on you unawares someplace where you have no one to help."

"True."

They spent the next twenty minutes debating what Draco would do. He was somewhat surprised to hear Harry taking up the case for Professor Snape.

"It's really surreal to hear you talking about him with such respect and deference, Harry. I don't know how exactly that happened. Since when is he on your side?"

"That's not really my story to tell. You'll have to talk to him about it. The point is that I know he can be a very good person to have looking out for your welfare."

"Oh, yeah, he certainly seems to go out of his way for your welfare."

"Everything isn't always like it appears."

"Obviously." Draco's eyes went unfocused as he stared into the middle distance, lost in thought. Harry kept his silence until Draco looked back at him. "Oh hell, Harry, I don't know what to do. They want me to tell them what I want to do tonight so they can get a room ready for me if they need to. Madame Pomfrey is going to let me out of here in time for classes tomorrow." He ran a hand through his hair in a rare show of nerves. "Can we talk about something else for a bit?"

"Sure! Umm, classes were pretty ordinary today. McGonagall worked on that wrist thingy that I was practicing in class today. Ahh … Nott kept giving me the hairy eyeball across the Great Hall, so I'm thinking he might have been part of the goon squad that attacked you. Hmm … but I guess that's not talking about something else, is it?" Harry smiled weakly at Draco. "I guess I'm not sure …" Harry trailed off and waved his hand between Draco and himself.

"Where we stand?"

Harry nodded. He didn't know why he was suddenly so shy and incapable of talking to Draco, but he was glad that Draco stepped in.

"What do you want, Harry?"

"Well, I don't want to influence your decision, but I was thinking today that if you decide to move out of the Slytherin dorms, we could be more open with our friendship and maybe even, you know, whatever else."

"So, are you saying that you'd like to date me openly?"

"Oh, Merlin, yes." Harry's eyes widened as he realized how much feeling he had put in those three small words. Draco smiled reassuringly, and Harry exhaled.

"That's good, because I'd really like that, too." Draco's voice was soft, and his eyes had taken on a slightly dreamy quality.

Draco started to learn forward, and his eyes focused on Harry's lips. Harry mirrored his actions and in a minute they were lost to anything else around them. Neither one noticed when Professor Dumbledore walked in and paused a few feet away, his eyes twinkling. Harry had learned his lesson from the night before and had not stood up. Luckily, they had pulled back and were just staring at each other with silly grins on their faces when Madame Pomfrey joined the Headmaster.

"Ah, Headmaster, I am happy to report that Mr. Malfoy definitely will be able to go back to classes tomorrow morning. He will have to take it easy for a few weeks since his ribs will probably continue to be a bit tender. He might want to skip a few Quidditch practices; but otherwise, he should be fine as long as he doesn't do anything too athletic."

"Good to hear, Poppy. We are all most appreciative of your efforts on Mr. Malfoy's behalf. Dinner is beginning down in the Great Hall. Why don't you go enjoy a meal since you only have the one patient tonight?"

Pomfrey couldn't mistake the dismissal and quickly took her leave. Dumbledore turned to Harry and Draco. "It appears that a decision has been made. Am I correct?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Draco had a funny little grin on his face.

"Shall we have the elves bring us some food and discuss exactly how we want to handle this transition?"

Both Harry and Draco nodded, and Dumbledore nodded back. "Dobby?" With a crack, the house elf appeared. "Could you bring us a little supper?" Dobby looked around to see who Dumbledore was referring to. His eyes went wide and his ears started to wiggle as he saw Draco and Harry sitting together.

"Oh, young Master Draco, I's so glad to see you is being friends with Harry Potter. Harry Potter will make sure no one hurts you again, young Master." With a crack, he disappeared again. Draco looked puzzled but not quite as surprised as Harry.

"That was my father's old house elf. I remember him from when I was a kid. He used to sneak me stuff when my father had told them all to ignore me. What's he doing here?"

"That would be quite a long story, Mr. Malfoy. I will let Harry tell it to you some other time. Now, I believe we have much to discuss. Would you mind if I called you Draco?


	12. Chapter 12

Part 3: Hibernation

Draco, Dumbledore, and Harry decided that Draco would go directly to classes the next day. The house elves could move his belongings to a room near Snape's chambers while everyone was in classes. Dumbledore had cast a spell on the ring that Draco always wore that would let Dumbledore know if he was attacked and help him locate Draco in case of emergency. Further plans about how to deal with Snape's defection and any subsequent plans to convert the faction of Slytherins who were sitting the fence in the battle with Voldemort were put off for a later time when Snape could join them and Draco was settled in to his new accommodations.

Just as Dumbledore was getting up to leave, Snape swept in.

Snape nodded but didn't say anything. He sent Draco a questioning look, and Draco nodded to him reassuringly.

"I have an additional proposal for you all that I want you to think about." When he had everyone's attention, Dumbledore continued, "As you know, I would like to begin a campaign to win over more people to our side of this war. I truly believe that if we do nothing but ensure that one or two young people don't take the Dark Mark, we will have won a considerable victory. However, this is something that I cannot help directly with. The people you will be targeting are unlikely to be moved by anything I have to say or do. I would like to suggest that the three of you meet regularly to discuss safety measures, strategy, and any other necessary items. In fact, it might be wise for Draco to join us in some of our extra lessons."

Harry didn't know what to say to this. He didn't think that he could be of any more use than Dumbledore at those meetings. Strategy had never been one of his strong points. However, if they were to discuss Draco's safety, he wanted to be there. He was shaken out of his silent thoughts by Snape's voice.

"Headmaster, I would be happy to give Draco some extra lessons to ensure his continued safely. However, I don't know if it is a good idea to include him in our existing lessons with Mr. Potter. In addition, I doubt very much that Mr. Potter will be of any use in discussing strategy to win over the Slytherins."

"We will discuss exactly what kind of lessons Draco needs at a later date." Both Harry and Snape could hear the implied promise of a more frank discussion about how much Draco needed to know about Harry's role in defeating Voldemort. Draco had a puzzled frown on his face and had opened his mouth. Clearly, he didn't like being discussed as if he wasn't in the room. However, as he did, he caught the forbidding look on Snape's face and snapped his mouth shut.

Dumbledore directed his next comments directly to Snape. "I believe you will find that most things that concern Draco will be of interest to Harry." His eyes twinkled. "In addition, Harry spends much more time with Draco than you do during the day and so will be a necessary ally in the campaign to keep him safe from retaliation."

"Sir?" Everyone turned to Harry. "Professor Snape is right. I'm not exactly a tactical genius." Draco sniggered. "See, usually I have Ron and Hermione to help." He ignored the eyebrow from Snape that begged to know how they _helped_. "Hermione always figures everything out, and Ron's really supportive and a pretty good tactician. It might be good to include them because we kind of share a brain. Plus, the students in danger of becoming Death Eaters aren't all in Slytherin, and Professor Snape has a lot less influence with the rest of the school."

It appeared that he had taken both Snape and Draco by surprise with that last sentence. Dumbledore, however, was twinkling even more. "Well, I mentioned that I wanted you all to think about this proposal. How about we agree to meet in a few days and determine our best plan of action?" At everyone's nod, he continued, "Shall we say my office, after dinner, the day after tomorrow?"

Obtaining everyone's acceptance, he turned to go. He turned back. "Severus, I would like a brief word with you." With one last glance at Draco and Harry, Snape joined him.

#

Draco and Harry had talked for another hour before Harry finally left Draco to rest some more. Draco had agreed that it might be good to bring Hermione and Ron into their group, but they both acknowledged that it was largely up to Snape to make that decision.

The next couple of days of classes were remarkably mundane. For now, everyone had been told that Draco needed more time to recover, so Snape was watching him closely to make sure he didn't overexert himself. Draco continued to go to his classes and eat his meals with the Slytherins. No one attacked, but no one talked to him either. It seemed that everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop because they weren't sure what he knew about his attackers. It was hard to tell which of his housemates were ignoring him because they thought he was a traitor and which were avoiding him because they didn't want the rest of the house knowing they were talking to him. However, for the people who didn't know about what was going on, it was not evident that anything had changed. Slytherins were remarkably insular and subtle even when at war with each other.

The big change was that Harry and Draco didn't continue to ignore each other or sneak off to spend time with each other. Some of Harry's Gryffindor friends had been surprised, but with a little help from Hermione and Ron, he had managed a brief and not very detailed explanation that meant they mostly left him alone about it. He could see them observing when he and Draco were together, but he figured they would get over it sooner or later. He wasn't going to let their opinions stop him from enjoying his new relationship. In fact, they had started quietly holding hands while walking in the corridors together. Harry had also started to walk Draco to his rooms after class.

The corridor that Snape's and now Draco's rooms were in was off the beaten path and usually deserted. Draco leaned against the door as they finished the conversation they had been having about Transfiguration class. After a few minutes, he leaned forward and kissed Harry. Instantly, Harry was lost. He knew they shouldn't do this here. When Draco kissed him, he didn't notice anything around him. Even after the kisses stopped, Harry felt as if someone had Confounded him. It had never been like this with Cho. However, he was a bit nervous about going into Draco's room. It felt like a big step to be in the same room as Draco's bed, and he couldn't guarantee they wouldn't end up naked on that bed together. They were teenage boys after all. Since Harry wasn't entirely sure he wanted that to happen just yet, he avoided the temptation. Draco seemed to agree with him since he didn't open the door or suggest they go inside. So, Harry leaned against Draco with his face in Draco's collar and lost himself to the gentle caresses on his back while absently running his own hand up and down the back of Draco's neck.

Reluctantly, he pulled back. "I guess I should go. I've got homework to get started on."

"Do you want to meet up after dinner in the library? I've got to do some research for my Arithmancy essay, and you could do some of your work there."

Harry knew that Draco was missing spending time with his friends in the Slytherin common room. "Actually, we're supposed to meet with Snape and Dumbledore tonight, remember? Maybe after that?"

"Right. I guess I'll see you in the Headmaster's office."

#

Draco was already there when Harry arrived at Dumbledore's office. However, Dumbledore himself was not. They shrugged and settled down in chairs in front of the desk. While Harry was greeting Fawkes, the headmaster materialized without seeming to come in through any visible door. Draco's eyes widened, but Harry shook his head discouragingly. Harry knew better than to ask. Just at that moment, he heard the steps start to revolve; shortly after that, Snape came in.

"Ah, we're all here. Does anyone want tea?"

A few moments later, they all were balancing fragile cups and saucers in their hands. Harry sometimes wondered if Dumbledore filled their hands with teacups to make sure no one could get their wands out easily to hex each other. He knew there had been times when Snape and Sirius were in a room when it would have been prudent. They couldn't be the only Order members who couldn't get along without supervision. Dumbledore seemed to delight in bringing the oddest groups of people together and making them work together. Luckily, Harry and Snape had developed a truce this year, so the tea precautions weren't necessary.

"Albus, I think we should get right to business. I know we all have other things to be doing. I can see the value of us getting together to make plans, and I can see that Mr. Potter will be in a much better position to protect Mr. Malfoy than I will. If Draco has no objection, I believe we should include Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger. Mr. Potter will undoubtedly tell them everything anyway, so we might as well have the benefit of their…expertise."

Snape hadn't completely softened as the last part was still sneered with disdain. However, everyone ignored that. Dumbledore turned to Draco.

"I agree that we should include them. Harry's right about the rest of the school. Professor Snape and I have very little insight into how to reach them."

"Wonderful." Dumbledore looked pleased and was twinkling in that Father Christmas way of his. "Harry, do you know where Ron and Hermione are right now?"

"No, sir, but I can call them if you want." He put his hand in his pocket to retrieve his DA Galleon. They might not need the extra classes this year, but Ron, Hermione, and Harry had continued to carry the Galleons around after Hermione modified them a bit to only signal each other. They were still limited in what messages they could send. After getting a nod from the headmaster, he changed the time to the current time and signaled that there was a new message. Since they knew where he was, he assumed they would know to come to the headmaster's office.

"What it _that_, Mr. Potter?" Snape sounded curious instead of angry, so Harry explained briefly about the Galleons and their original purpose and modified usage this year.

"That's complex magic for a fifth year."

"Yea, well, that's one of the reasons I wanted to include Hermione."

Snape looked thoughtful but not entirely convinced. Shortly thereafter, there was a knock at the door to the office. Dumbledore ushered them in and conjured a few extra chairs for them. After they were settled in with tea, Dumbledore motioned to Snape to take over.

Snape never was known for beating around the bush. "We have decided to include you. However, I will not tolerate any nonsense from any of you. This is not a double-dating club. This is business."

"Include us in what, Professor?" Hermione was genuinely puzzled. Harry might have told them that he had a meeting, but that didn't mean he had told them what was up for debate. He didn't want to bring it up until he knew what was going to happen in case they had decided to keep their plans confidential. However, Snape obviously expected that Harry had told Hermione and Ron everything immediately. He looked inquiringly at Harry.

"Professor Dumbledore wanted to use the opportunity of the Slytherins finding out about Draco's changed loyalties to start a campaign to try to win over more of the fence-sitters. Also, he wants to keep Professor Snape out of the spying business since it has gotten increasingly dangerous, and we can't afford to lose him. So, Dumbledore wanted the three of us," he gestured at Snape, Draco, and himself, "to work together on this as well as keeping them safe from further retaliation. I suggested we include you two because I'm basically no good at planning anything." He smiled.

Hermione smiled. "That's wonderful, Harry. I'll be glad to help."

Ron nodded. "Sure, Harry. Whatever we can do."

Snape's face was impassive, but Harry knew from the lack of a response that he was a bit surprised that Ron and Hermione didn't already know about the plan and yet had agreed so readily. Dumbledore seemed to be purposefully trying to stay out of the discussion so as to reinforce the fact that he wasn't part of these plans. In fact, as the silence stretched out a bit, he took the opportunity to get up and excuse himself.

"I think you should take the opportunity to meet for a bit this evening. It would be quite suspect if you were to all leave together and meet somewhere else. Therefore, I will leave you alone as I have a few other matters to attend to." Before anyone could react, Dumbledore was up and had disappeared through a door in the back of his office that hadn't been there a moment earlier.

"Where does he come and go from?" Draco suddenly exclaimed in frustration. "When I got here, he wasn't here, and then suddenly he just was. It's creepy."

Harry laughed, and Snape made a noise that from anyone else would have been mistaken for clearing his throat. Harry was sure he was choking back a snort of laughter.

"I'm afraid that if you are going to be on our side, you are going to have to get used to Albus Dumbledore's mysterious ways. Nobody knows how he does half of what he does, and he certainly isn't going to start explaining things now. It ruins the all-knowing image." Snape's tone was so dry that most of them didn't know how to take his comments.

Harry had been spending extra time with him this year and guffawed loudly. Snape merely raised en eyebrow.

After these comments, the silence stretched a bit uncomfortably. Harry was surprised when Ron was the one to break it.

"I'm guessing safety is the first concern. Can we set something up to alert the rest of us if someone tries to attack Malfoy or Professor Snape?"

Draco interrupted that conversation before it could get any further. "Wait, before we get into things like that. When Harry and I started working together, we had some problems. But then we set some ground rules, and it really helped us work together and set the groundwork for our friendship. The people in this room haven't always got along well. Perhaps we want to think about doing something similar."

"Umm, didn't you guys create a contract of sorts?" Hermione asked.

Snape's eyebrows rose at that, and he gave Draco a look that Harry would guess meant Draco would be hearing Snape's opinion about the foolishness of signing his name to contracts when there were fewer Gryffindors around to hear the lecture.

"Yes, we did. But I wasn't suggesting we go that far. Just some verbally agreed-to ground rules so that when conflicts arise, we have some way to resolve them."

"Makes sense to me," Ron mumbled agreeably. Hermione nodded.

"Professor Snape, how do you feel about it?" Harry asked the question that everyone was avoiding.

"It sounds reasonable. What kinds of rules did you have in mind?"

"Well, Draco and I had rules about when each of us was in charge, conduct that was unacceptable, and attendance." Harry paused for a minute and realized that he really didn't want Snape thinking he was questioning his authority or maneuvering to be in charge so he added, "I'm sure we all agree that you are in charge, so that makes the first part a non-issue. On the other hand, it might be good for everyone to agree that we all must show the utmost respect for each other, our families, and our opinions. No petty bickering."

Snape nodded. "Yes, we should also agree to full disclosure on any issues relevant to our mutual cause. Any information we have that could be related should be volunteered. When one of us asks a question, it will be answered fully and honestly. However, we would also have to agree to keep any of each other's secrets." Snape looked around and received a full round of nods of agreement. "Perhaps a general discussion of what we hope to accomplish and how often we will have to meet would be good right now."

#

It was agreed that safety was, indeed, the most pressing issue. Draco's ring would only alert Dumbledore if something went wrong. Harry pointed out they couldn't all start wearing jewelry because that would be suspicious. Hermione volunteered to do some research and see if she could come up with something non-visible that would let everyone know if any member was in trouble. They could agree to meet in a designated place if there was an alarm and form a plan to help the missing member. Draco mentioned that they should also work out a form of secure communication because meeting was not always feasible.

Everyone was given the task of identifying "at risk" individuals. They could discuss plans for how to reach those people after the lists were complete. Ron pointed out that they should put up a strong, united front for the school as a whole. Accordingly, plans were made for the four students to be seen together more often. Snape would also be seen to be publicly changing sides. He would stop obviously favoring the Death Eater children in Potions and at the same time be more cordial to the Gryffindor trio.

Lastly, they agreed that they didn't yet know how often it would be necessary to meet. For now, they would meet again in a week's time in the room that Snape and Harry had been using for extra lessons.

#


	13. Chapter 13

At their next meeting, Hermione started to explain her plan for a marker that they could use to monitor each other's safety. She had found a way to make them invisible and was proposing they be put on the palms of their hands. As she started to explain the spells in detail, Harry found himself tuning out and staring at the back of his right hand. Suddenly, Draco grabbed it.

"What the hell is that?" Draco wasn't speaking too loudly, and nobody else seemed to have noticed.

Harry wrenched his hand from Draco's and put it in his pocket. "Nothing." For some reason, Harry hadn't told Draco about Umbridge's detentions last year. They had shared a lot, but that story was one of a few that he had glossed over. Draco looked at Harry disbelievingly, and Harry looked back. Draco's stare got more intense while Harry tried to put all of his effort into looking puzzled and innocent.

"Harry, did your family do that to you?" Now, his voice was louder, and Harry was dimly aware of the talk in the rest of the room grinding to a halt.

Instinctively, Harry retorted, "They aren't my family."

"Fine. Your supposed guardians. What did they do?"

"Nothing." A longer pause ensued while Harry silently pleaded with Draco to drop this. He really didn't want to talk about Umbridge or his family in front of Snape. Trust was one thing, but this had nothing to do with Voldemort. Apparently, it wasn't to be.

"Harry, what the hell did they do to the back of your hand?"

Harry heard Hermione's breath catch as she realized exactly what Harry and Draco were arguing about. He looked up at her, as he said, "Nothing." He decided a small measure of truth might head off part of the awkward conversation to come. "They didn't do it." He looked at Hermione and Ron in the hope that they would help extricate him from this situation. Their implacable expressions reminded Harry that neither was happy with him the previous year when he had not gone to McGonagall or Dumbledore.

"Mr. Potter, could you contrive to stop wasting our time?"

"I'm not the one that wants to talk about it. It's nothing to do with anything, so let's just go back to Hermione's explanation."

"You aren't getting out of it that easily." Draco's voice was the cold tone Harry really hated to hear him revert to. "Plus, I happen to think that something on the back of the hand that we are going to charm with another mark might be relevant to the discussion."

"Hermione is going to use our palms, so it doesn't matter."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake." Snape had obviously lost his patience and leaned over and grabbed Harry's arm and pulled the hand that Harry was now hiding behind his back forward. He looked down at it for a moment and looked at Harry with a puzzled frown. "Potter, why would you carve this sentence into the back of your hand?" He paused with a frown. "And how did you manage it with your left hand?"

"I didn't." Harry knew his voice was somewhat weak, but he couldn't make it sound more full of conviction. He wondered why he wasn't angry about this.

"Mr. Potter, I have been marking your essays since you were eleven. I recognize your handwriting."

Harry found his face heating up in embarrassment. He supposed it would be better to get it out than to have him thinking he did that to himself voluntarily. "When I had detention with Umbridge last year, she had me write lines because she said I was lying about Voldemort being back." He lowered his eyes because he couldn't look at Draco or Snape as he finished his explanation. "When I wrote them on the parchment, they carved on the back of my hand. It would heal immediately and then start over again with the next line."

Harry heard Draco's gasp, but he didn't want to try to figure out if it was disgust at Umbridge's cruelty or Harry's weakness in letting it happen.

"And she had you continue until your hand could not heal and it was permanently scarred?" Harry nodded dumbly. He didn't know what to make of Snape's cold tone. "And where were you two?"

Harry's head snapped up as he realized that Snape was now trying to make it his friend's fault. "I was the only one in the detention, and I didn't tell them at first."

"Yeah, and he wouldn't go to McGonagall."

Ron's voice was surprisingly still annoyed at him. So, Harry directed his next remarks at him. "Yeah, because McGonagall could've helped." He knew he was laying the sarcasm on a bit thick, but they had this conversation last year. "Umbridge would have just found a reason to fire her if she did anything. You know she told me to keep my head down and my temper in check." Harry turned to Snape now, and he had found his anger and conviction. "I didn't keep my temper, so it's no one's fault but mine for letting that toad get to me."

"I see. Well, we will have to see if there is any kind of curse associated with the use of the quill that will interfere with the mark Miss Granger is proposing."

With that, he took out his wand and started to wave it above Harry's hand, which he still held in one of this own. Harry knew better than to resist. In the brief moment of peace, Harry decided to dare a glance at Draco. He had a disgusted look on his face and was watching Snape's movements. There was something else in his face that Harry was having trouble identifying. Draco seemed to sense Harry's study because he raised his eyes to Harry. Harry suddenly felt bad about keeping this from Draco.

"Can we talk about this later?" He whispered it in Draco's ear and received a nod in acknowledgement. Draco and Harry were still exchanging significant looks, so Snape's next comment took Harry off guard.

"Why would Draco assume that your guardians had done this, Mr. Potter?"

Crap. He was so hoping to avoid that part of the conversation. He scanned the rest of the faces in the room looking for help while Snape kept his eyes on the back of Harry's hand. Draco just shrugged resignedly. He knew how useless it was to resist his Head of House. Hermione had a you-know-you-should-talk-about-it-because-it-will-help look on her face.

"Full disclosure." Ron response seemed to seize Snape's interest for a moment as he watched the interplay between the two friends. When Snape turned his obsidian gaze to Harry, Harry relented.

"My aunt and uncle don't like me very much."

"Neither do I many days. However, I don't think anyone would think I had done this to you." He gestured with their joined hands and waited with a raised eyebrow.

"They don't always treat me well." Harry ignored Ron's snort and pretended not to notice Hermione's glare as she tried to silently tell him to stop avoiding the issue. However, he couldn't avoid the expectant look from Snape. "They think that wizards are freaks." No matter how much everyone glared, he really didn't want to get into the details of his treatment from the Dursleys and found himself getting angry. "Look, none of it is important, and it's certainly not relevant to what we're here for. So can we just drop it?"

"Well, Mr. Potter, it appears that there is something embedded in this scar that may be impairing your magic. So, you'll forgive me if I don't take your word for what is and is not important to share." He turned to Draco first. "Mr. Malfoy, why did you assume this was from them?"

"I just knew they didn't treat him well." Now that Draco was in the spotlight, he didn't appear sure of what to say.

"I believe we have established that they did not '_treat him well_.' Do you have any specifics to clarify this assessment?"

"Well, he- um- told me that he didn't know he was a wizard until he got the letter from Hogwarts and that they tried to tell him his parents died in a car crash." Draco seemed to be unsure about telling Harry's secrets. "He also said that they usually found a reason to punish him even though he wasn't blowing up cauldrons when he was six and that his cousin picked on him. I guess I kind of read into what he didn't say."

Snape turned to his next victim. "Miss Granger, can you flesh out this picture a bit?"

"Well, I know that his aunt and uncle are pretty harsh with him. From what I can gather, they aren't exactly parental. He was ready to go live with Sirius right after we met him. I mean, we had only figured out he wasn't a mass murderer about a half hour before, but he didn't care as long as he didn't have to go back to the Dursleys. When Ron tried to telephone his house one summer, Mr. Dursley told him Harry didn't live there." She bit her lip but then decided to continue. "We usually send him food over the summer because I don't think they feed him enough. Also, I think that they might lock up his Hogwarts stuff so he can't get at his books and wand and stuff, so he never gets a chance to do his summer homework until we get back here."

"I see. Mr. Weasly, do you know anything else?"

Ron looked at Harry apologetically, but Harry was far too angry and embarrassed to really notice. "Well, after first year, we didn't hear from him all summer, and I was starting to worry about him. So, Fred, George, and I took Dad's car and went to his house. There were bars on his window that we had to pull off to get him out. Fred and George went in to help him get his stuff out, and they had to pick some locks on his bedroom door and then one on the cupboard under the stairs where they had locked up his Hogwarts trunk. I think they get him to do a bunch of stuff around the house because he made a joke once about being their house elf once he found out that they existed. Also, he has even less new stuff that I do. He's always wearing his cousin's hand-me-downs, and they are about 10 sizes too big for him. They don't get him presents for Christmas or his birthday unless you count things like old, moldy socks."

Snape now turned his face to Harry. Harry, however, wasn't meeting anyone's eyes. In fact, the only thing keeping him in the room was Snape's unbroken grip on his hand. "You may think that this information is not important, but I assure that I do. Not only because something should be done to stop it but also because it is important that I understand you as well as I can if I am to train you to kill The Da- Voldemort."

Harry's eye's came up then since he was so surprised to hear Snape use that name. However, he wasn't ready to concede that he had a point. "Nothing about any of that has anything to do with Voldemort."

"Yes, but it does have to do why you react with anger and impertinence to certain things and submissiveness to others. As you know, your fight with Voldemort will be largely influenced by your mental toughness. I cannot arm you if I do not know your vulnerabilities."

Harry didn't want to admit Snape had a point. Then, he remembered his irrepressible curiosity to find out what he had been convinced Dumbledore and the Order were hiding from him and how that had gotten him in trouble last year. "Yes, sir."

"Now, we have all agreed to be completely honest with each other. Part of that agreement is that nothing we say goes beyond this group. If you don't want me to talk to Dumbledore about this, I won't. However, we will talk about it more at a later date. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now, you will come to my office at the end of classes tomorrow, and we will work on counteracting whatever this is embedded in your hand. In the meantime, I suggest we get back to Miss Granger's explanations."

Harry let out a breath and looked up at Snape. They exchanged a look of understanding and turned to look at Hermione together.

She took a deep breath to collect herself and started over. "Well, as I was saying, the marks will be invisible, and they will be linked to each other. They will allow us to know if one of us is in trouble. They'll pulse if we've been hexed and burn if we are unconscious. We can also use them to send certain messages to each other if we need help."

Ron interrupted. "Wait a minute, Hermione, what about DADA? We can't have them going off every time we have class. You and me have class at the same time that Draco and Harry do their independent study. That would be a bit distracting for Professor Snape while he was teaching."

Neither Ron nor Hermione seemed to notice Snape's surprise that he was to be included in this link. "We will be able to turn them off and on temporarily by tapping them with our wand. However, it won't respond to anyone else's magic but the bearer."

"You said something about communication?" Draco pulled Hermione's attention to him with his question.

"Yes, an emergency signal asking for help."

"Like an S.O.S?" Harry smirked.

"Well, actually, that was exactly what I had in mind. Again, the mark only reacts to the magic of the bearer, but we don't want it going haywire when we accidentally hit it. So, it will be coded to recognize a few specific patterns. I thought we could use a Morse Code S.O.S."

Snape'e eyebrows went up. "Are you sure that all of this is possible, Miss Granger? I'm afraid that there is a reason I am a Potions Master and not a Charms Master, so this is a bit beyond what I am familiar with."

"Almost sure. I've done all of the research and a few tests as well. I just need to combine all of it and do a few tests between the group of us."

"What's an S.O.S?" Draco looked puzzled.

"Yeah, and what's Morse code?" Ron was equally confused.

Hermione launched into an explanation filled with entirely too many historical references for Harry's taste. As her eyes glowed with that peculiar light that she got as she was explaining her research, Harry let his mind wander for a moment. He wasn't looking forward to telling Snape about the Dursleys, but he knew there would be no escaping it. He was surprised to hear about the scar on the back of his hand. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised to hear that Umbridge had an even deeper punishment for Harry than the obvious. He felt Draco's hand close around his own and squeeze in reassurance. He shook off his gloomy thoughts and pulled his focus back to the conversation.

#

"Draco, I'm sorry I kept this from you, and I freaked when you brought it up."

Draco turned to Harry. They had just left the meeting with Snape, Ron, and Hermione. Harry wanted to make sure the Draco wasn't hurt because he hadn't told him about the detentions, and he also felt bad about how he had reacted when Draco had first brought it up.

"Harry, it's OK. I can't say I'm sorry for bringing it up. Now we know that thing is cursed, and maybe Snape can fix it. But I am sorry for how I brought it up. I know you hate being the center of attention, but I really don't know how I could have avoided bringing it up right then. I really don't know how I hadn't noticed the scar before. If I had, we could have avoided the public scene."

"Draco." Harry waited until Draco finally seemed to hear him. He was rambling about what he should have done and seemed more upset then Harry was. "Draco, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm the dope that let Umbridge do this and didn't tell anyone."

"But…"

"Draco. Stop. This isn't your fault. You didn't do this. I know why you felt you had to bring it up, and I guess it's a good thing if it really is cursed." He waved his hand around wildly. He was still somewhat in shock over the idea of being cursed all this time.

"But I helped her. She was such a bitch, and I helped her torture you."

"Oh, Draco, no." Now Harry understood why Draco had gotten so cold looking. He was blaming himself, and the pain had him reverting to his Malfoy breeding. "Draco, you didn't make Umbridge do this. In fact, it was pretty early in the year — long before that Inquisitorial Squad of hers. We've had this conversation, Draco. We've forgiven each other for a lot of things, and there is nothing for me to forgive you for in this scar." He paused and reached for Draco's chin, tilting it up so Draco was forced to look him in the eye and see the sincerity there. "Do you understand?"

Draco looked at him intently for long minutes before finally nodding. "Yeah. You're right, Harry. I …" He took a deep breath to steady himself. "All the guilt and stuff just came whooshing back. I don't know how you ever forgave me for being such an ass."

"It's easy. I love you as you are now. The past is the past. All that's important is the present and the future."

"Do you think you could get that embroidered on a throw pillow for me?"

Harry laughed. He knew things were OK between them now that Draco was making jokes. He felt a little tension relax in his chest. But, he knew that he needed to do one more thing to make sure Draco knew that he wasn't keeping things from him specifically. He needed to understand that Harry just didn't like talking about this stuff in general and not just to him.

"Draco, I was thinking. Do you want to be there whenever Snape gives me the third degree about the Dursleys? I hate talking about it or even thinking about it, but if he's going to get all the grisly details out of me anyway, I'd like you to hear and understand."

"Oh, Harry. You don't have to do this. I know you don't like talking about it."

"You're not hearing me. I don't like talking about it because I don't like thinking about it. It's not that I don't want you to know. In fact, if I could think of a way for you to know without me having to relive all of it, I'd have done it by now. Snape is going to make me tell him all kinds of stuff, so we might as well take advantage of that."

Harry could see Draco looking at him closely. After a moment, he seemed to reach some kind of conclusion and nodded at him. "I'd be honored."

#


	14. Chapter 14

It had been decided that Draco should not join in Harry's extra lessons with Snape and Dumbledore. Instead, Snape would start working with Harry and Draco during most of their DADA class. They had already gone through most of the year's syllabus and passed Jackson's many tests. They would continue to move forward in her syllabus every other class. The other classes would be special sessions with Snape on fighting techniques against Death Eaters.

Therefore, Harry and Snape walked together down to his lab the next day after class. Snape had decided that a potion might fix Harry's hand, so they were going directly to Snape's personal laboratory. When they entered the room, Harry spoke up before Snape could get started.

"Professor, I have a few questions to ask you before we start. Is that OK?" Snape looked like he wanted to say something to stop Harry, but he just nodded. Harry continued, "First, I was hoping you could explain a bit about what you do to diagnose and fix this." With this, he held up his hand and looked at it a minute. "I'm not the only person Umbridge punished this way, and I'd like to be able to talk to some students and check if they have scars or lingering curses. Also, I need to know how to defend myself against all kinds of things, and I can't do that if I can't even recognize them as threats."

"That sounds reasonable. There may be times when it is impractical to explain while I am working; but if so, I will explain afterwards."

"Great." Now Harry was feeling uncertain. He didn't really want to ask the second question, but the voice in the back of his head (which in this case sounded remarkably like Ron) wouldn't let him back down. "I was talking to Ron last night, and he pointed something out that I hadn't thought of."

Harry ignored the look on Snape's face. He could almost hear him thinking, 'Weasley thinking, ha.'

"He pointed out that it might be useful at some point to have a record of what Umbridge did — especially if it turns out that it is blocking my magic." An eyebrow rose on Snape's face. "I still don't really want to tell anyone about this if I don't have to, but I guess it might be a good idea if I told someone who would be seen as a disinterested and trustworthy party. I'm not sure exactly what Umbridge is doing right now, but I don't really trust that she won't crop up again."

"Indeed. She probably will find a way to cause trouble again. I believe Mr. Weasley may have a point. However, we might be able to accomplish our objective without involving anyone else. Wait here for a moment."

Snape turned and headed towards a door in the back of the room. Harry assumed it was a storeroom since he couldn't see any ingredients in the room he was in. When Snape re-emerged, he was holding a quill, some parchment, and a strange device that looked like a clipboard with an arm attached to it.

"It's a automatic recording device. I sometimes use it when I am experimenting with potions because it records everything I say and do, so I don't have to try to take notes while I'm working. There is no way to make it record anything but the bare facts, so it is a very impartial observer. We just have to ensure that it is clear the record was not altered once the recorder is turned off. There are charms we can use, and I will ensure that the recorder includes those charms as part of the official record at the beginning and end."

"That's perfect. Thank you, sir. I appreciate you coming up with this solution even though I imagine you think I should tell someone about what happened."

"There would be little purpose to telling someone now. Since the damage is done, we might as well repair it with as little fuss as possible."

"Yes, sir."

Snape set up the recorder on a table, and he and Harry settled down on opposite sides of another table a few feet away. Once he had it started, the hand picked up the quill (an Everlast) and the clipboard hovered a few inches above the table. It started writing immediately at a pace faster than any person could possible maintain. Snape started with the charm he had mentioned to make the parchment only take writing from the recording device and then stated his name formally and began the recitation of events. Once he had dictated his discovery of the scar, he asked Harry to recount how he received the scar. After listening to Snape's factual, almost legalistic language, Harry found himself unconsciously imitating him as he described how he had gotten detention and how Umbridge had given him his assignment and checked the progress to make sure it was "making an impression."

"After Mr. Potter detailed these events, I recognized the method of punishment as that of an illegal Blood Quill. I have heard that one of the many reasons they are obsolete is because the pain of their use was often combined with subtle curses and hexes for a continuing and lasting punishment. I thought it would be prudent that we investigate the scar for any evidence of this sort of lasting effect. I then suggested we convene here today for said investigation. I have utilized the time in between that meeting and this to start some research into possible hexes and how to detect and eradicate them."

Snape pulled out his wand and indicated that Harry should place his hand on the table between them. "Revealo Incantatem," he intoned. When nothing seemed to happen, Harry looked back up at Snape. "I didn't really expect that to work since she would not have had to incant anything directly at your hand. If we had the quill, we could have used that charm to reveal what was done to it. However, this means that we must resort to the more difficult way." He stood up and retrieved a nearby phial. "This is a simple potion base. We will have to cut open your scar at a few places and mix some of the blood and skin from the area with this mixture. Then, we will have to conduct a number of tests on the mixture to determine what, if any, curse there is remaining in the scar."

Harry felt slightly revolted at the explanation but refrained from commenting. "Do we have to use any special kind of knife to make the cuts?"

"Yes. It must be a pure silver knife that has been cleaned and then purified in salt for at least six hours. Fortunately, I found the reference to this method last night and prepared a knife then." He reached into a stone bowl by his right elbow and dug the knife out of the sea salt it was immersed in. "As an added precaution, I keep sea salt distilled from salt water that has been collected from a lake protected by wizards for centuries as a sacred space."

Harry watched as Snape moved the knife closer to the back of his hand. He could still remember the pain of scratching those words into the back of his own hand each time he wrote a line. The point glanced across his skin, and he almost pulled away. Instead, he pictured the calming lake that he generally used in his nightly meditation and consciously breathed in through his nose and out his open mouth. Snape seemed to be waiting for him. When Harry thought he was ready, he nodded at Snape.

Snape positioned the cauldron that now contained the potions base under Harry's hand. He then swiftly cut along the 'I' and turned Harry's hand so it bled into the jar. He then made another minute cut so he could take away a piece of the skin. He repeated this step in four other places on the back of Harry's hand. By the time he was done, Harry's hand was burning and bloody. It seemed to hurt more than cuts of that nature should.

"While we work on testing this solution, I cannot heal your hand. Until we know what we will find, I do not want to take the chance of using something that might interact badly with anything currently embedded in that scar." While Snape was talking he had efficiently started a fire under the cauldron so the blood and skin could integrate with the base.

"Professor, I soaked my hand in murtlap essence last year. Will that be a problem?"

"I don't believe so since it was last year. However, it is good to know." Snape then moved a large rack of small vials to the table. "We must test this solution by putting two drops in each of these compounds and interpreting any resulting color or texture changes."

Harry had a feeling they would be here awhile.

#

Harry and Snape had quickly worked out a system. After showing him what to do, Snape left Harry to put the two drops of the blood potion into each vial. After putting the blood in one phial, he had to watch it for five minutes and record any changes in color. Then, he could move on to the next one. Each phial was helpfully labeled with a number, and Harry had a large piece of parchment on which to write his observations. Meanwhile, Snape was following him and doing the complicated tests that measured changes in texture or thickness. Because the recorder couldn't 'watch' both of them as efficiently as it could 'listen' to both of them, Snape and Harry were both dictating what they were doing as they went as well as keeping notes on their findings.

About an hour and 45 minutes later, Harry was on his last phial. Most of the concoctions had not reacted at all, but at least three showed dramatic color changes. Harry finished up his last notes — "#20: No noticeable change in color" — and stood up and stretched his back and arms as he watched Snape work on #17. Before he moved on to the next one, he pointed a book out to Harry and gave him the page number where he could start looking up the meanings of the color changes he had observed.

Apparently, Snape was correct, and Harry's magic was dampened. The concoction in the third phial had changed to pewter grey as soon as the potion touched it and stayed that color. That indicated a dampening spell. There were a two more phials (#5, and #6) that seemed to confirm that diagnosis but with more details that Harry didn't completely understand. The next major change came with the 12th phial, which had turned a soft violet and immediately started fading slowly until it was almost completely clear again. The explanation for this was a charm that seemed to fade with time (like the color of the concoction), and that it would have influenced him to be ashamed of his punishment. Harry assumed this was to ensure that he didn't tell anyone about it right away. Lastly, number 16 turned a bright red when the potion hit; it held that color for a few minutes and then started to fade to a pastel pink. This charm also was meant to affect his emotions. It encouraged his anger. Harry assumed this was meant to make him look even more "unstable" and also encourage him to get into more trouble so Umbridge would have a reason to punish him again.

By the time Harry finished reading, Snape was finished and cleaning up some of the things they had used during their testing. He and Harry exchanged notes, and Harry started comparing Snape's notes to the textbook. Snape had apparently studied the tests thoroughly because he only needed to consult the text once while he looked over Harry's notes.

When he finished, he looked up at Harry. "Do you any questions about what you read?"

"Well, the emotional stuff seems pretty straightforward, but the dampening spell looks a bit more complicated. I get that it is dampening my magic, but the more detailed it got, the more it lost me."

"You are correct; the emotional effects were relatively simple. They are also mostly faded, as they were designed to do. I can see why some of the specifics of the dampening spell would be over your head. It is somewhat complicated because it requires an understanding of magical theory, and you have had no cause to study that topic."

"To start with, it is important to understand how magic changes in each person. As with physical maturity, most of the dramatic changes occur during adolescence. This is why we start formal training at 11. Although there is no correspondence between physical growth and magical power, there are some similarities in how it works. For example, some boys' voices change gradually so that people who live with them barely notice the changes. Others seem to change overnight. Still others change in fits and starts with lots of squeaking and loss of control. Magical power growth is also quite individual. However, most young people fall into the gradual, barely noticeable growth category."

"Is there any way to tell who is going to fall into which category?"

"Not reliably. There is very little pattern. However, those people who are extremely powerful are a bit more likely to fall into the fit-and-starts and lack of control group."

"OK. How does this relate to the dampening spell?"

"Well, this is a complex dampening spell that was designed not only to dampen your magical power at the time that it was applied but also to prohibit growth from then on. Therefore, the spell has to increase in power over time, unlike the emotional spells. Some of the results were about how that effect was achieved. I don't think we need to go into those details right now. For our purposes, the important fact is that when we lift this spell, you should immediately come back to the level of power that you would be at if the spell had not been cast. Based on some things I have heard about you, you may have had sudden spurts even without the effects of this spell. The lifting of the dampening spell is likely to see a sudden surge in your power, and this could result in significant loss of control for you."

Harry bit back the curse that he wanted to voice. Instead, he tried to think of this problem from an intellectual standpoint. "Is there anything we can do to mitigate this effect?"

"No. However, we can try to prepare you and also work specifically on your control once we do lift it. However, we might need the Headmaster's help, and that would mean telling him this whole story." Snape held up his hand to hold off Harry's objections. "I am more than willing to give it a try, but it is not something I have any experience with. We may find that we will need outside assistance."

"But you'll try to help me before we go to the Headmaster?"

"Yes."

"I can live with that." Harry nibbled his bottom lip. "So, what do we have to do to break the spells on me?"

"That, unfortunately, is going to be a bit painful. We will have to cut open your hand at the same places as it was cut during the application of the spells. Then, we will apply a series of potions in combination with a few counter spells. We cannot do this now. We have already been here for over two hours, and I need a few days to prepare the potions. Can you meet here on Friday evening without raising too many questions?"

"Sure. I can have Hermione and Ron run interference if we need it. Is there anything I can do to prepare?"

"I will handle the details of how to lift the spells. You will be in a fair amount of pain and so will not be able to actively help. However, you can work carefully on your Occlumency in the meantime. In addition, you could try practicing very careful control of simple spells."

"Can I ask Draco for his assistance with that last part? He has a lot more control than I do."

"Certainly, that would be a very good idea, and I'm sure that Mr. Malfoy would like to be involved in helping fix this particular problem. Now, let's heal your hand for now and you can get up to dinner."

#

_As a special birthday present to me, I'm going to give you two chapters at once! So, please review and make my day._


	15. Chapter 15

The cure turned out to make the testing process seem like a walk in the park. Snape had, as usual, far underestimated how complex and painful yet tedious the whole process was. Draco was with them because he insisted he wanted to "be there" for Harry. However, it really wasn't helping because he was sitting in a corner glowering. Harry couldn't tell who, exactly, he was mad at.

In the meantime, he had taken a potion that Snape had said would help purge the curse from his system while they uprooted it from its source (his hand). Harry wasn't sure exactly how it was supposed to purge him, but he was starting to feel flushed and feverish. He really was hoping this wouldn't develop into the aches, pains, and vomiting of a full-fledged fever. However, judging by the pain in the back of his hand, he was thinking that he would be well off if his only problem was a bit of a fever. After Snape had given him the potion (sickly sweet and thick on the tongue), he took Harry's hand and held up a very sharp looking knife. Like the one from a few days ago, it was pure silver. Unlike a few days ago, Snape did not cut just a few small places. Instead, he carved open the entire sentence scarred onto Harry's hand. Much like before, this hurt much more than a standard cut, and Harry had a hard time not pulling away or hexing Snape for causing the pain.

That had been when Draco started glowering and retreated to the corner. After cutting open his hand, Snape had rubbed in an oily potion that numbed the area for a moment, and then it started to burn worse than before he had applied it. He then informed him that it had to sit for 30 minutes before it could be washed off and replaced with another one. That's where the tedium came in.

So, now they sat across from each other at the worktable. Harry's red, throbbing hand sat out so that Snape could watch it to make sure nothing happened that wasn't supposed to, and Harry couldn't possibly forget the burning, throbbing, stabbing pain for even a moment. This was much, much worse than growing his bone back after Lockhart "healed" him all those years ago.

"Well, Mr. Potter, we have some time on our hands. Perhaps now would be a good time to discuss your guardians."

Harry just looked at Snape in horror. This wasn't painful enough on its own?

"I realize that you do not want to discuss it, but I thought it might get your mind off your hand for a bit. Plus, we _will_ have this discussion, so you might as well get it over with sooner rather than later."

"I bet hexing you would get my mind off the pain." Harry mumbled this under his breath, but he was quite sure Snape had heard him. As if to confirm this, Snape's eyebrow rose.

"I am willing to make an allowance for the pain you are in and ignore that last comment. However, I warn you, my patience does not extend to further insolence." Harry heard the icy tones and realized quite suddenly that he hadn't heard that tone from Snape in quite some time. He also realized just as suddenly that he didn't want to get back in Snape's black books. His life was so much simpler when they were cooperating, and he had let himself forget that for a moment. Not again.

"I'm sorry, sir. I just feel awful and don't want to discuss the Dursleys. But, you're right. We might as well get it over with." Harry thought about it for a moment. "I'm not sure what to tell you. Ron, Hermione, and Draco got it about right." Now Harry was glad Draco had insisted on being here today. He really didn't think Snape would appreciate him explaining that it had to wait because he had promised his boyfriend he could listen in.

"But they only gave the vaguest outline. I would like to flesh out that picture." At Harry's further silence, he took pity on him. "How about I get this started by asking a few specific questions?" Harry nodded. "First, did they hit you?"

"No. Yes. Well, hmm. They didn't beat me senseless for no reason on a regular basis, if that's what you mean." At Snape's eyebrow (Harry idly thought that he should write a dictionary of eyebrow expressions and their meanings), Harry elucidated. "Dudley and his gang used to like to beat me up a bit, and no one ever tried to stop them or discourage them from 'Harry hunting' or whatever the game was that day. But Uncle Vernon is more for yelling in your face while grabbing you roughly by the arm and shaking you. So, yes, they've hit me, but that isn't what makes them unbearable."

"I believe I heard mention of locks on doors. Did they lock you in as punishment, or was this a regular occurrence?"

So it continued until they had to wash one potion off and put another one on (the second was purple and thick and smelt of old socks). By that time, Draco was suffering under a _Silencio_ from Snape because he "persisted in interrupting." Then, Snape started up again, asking question after question until they had to wash off that potion, say a few incantations, and reapply another potion (grey, lumpy but surprisingly smelling cloyingly of flowers). Harry ached over 98 of his body between the feverish effects of the one potion and the irritating effects of the ones being smeared on his hand. His head ached from remembering all sorts of awful things from his childhood that he liked to pretend he had forgotten. Now, they were moving on to his first few years here at Hogwarts while Snape questioned him about everything from who gave him the invisibility cloak ("the manipulating old bastard") to what had really happened in the Shrieking Shack ("you had him at wand point and you did nothing!"). The only good news was that Harry finally got to correct some of Snape's assumptions about things that Harry had done.

The talk did mostly take his mind off of the throbbing pain in his hand, but it did nothing to disguise the sudden need to vomit. Harry ran for the nearest sink.

He was so not enjoying this.

#

With all of the work on the curse on his hand and preparing for it to be lifted, Harry had little time for anything but schoolwork (he still had to work harder for not-as-good-results–as-Hermione) and snogging Draco for the past week. After Friday night, he had spent a great deal of the weekend sleeping and recuperating.

This, fortunately, meant that very few people had occasion to see him as he didn't want them asking about the bandage on his hand. Snape had insisted that it couldn't be magically healed until the potions had some more time to work. They had set a time to meet on Sunday. His healing had progressed as Snape had expected, so they could heal his hand before classes on Monday. Harry was surprised to look down and not see the faint scar that he had gotten used to in the past year.

More surprising was the first spell. After he healed his hand, Snape had him try a gentle _Windgardium Leviosa_ on a pillow from the couch of his office. He wanted to see what effect the sudden lifting of the dampening curse would have on Harry's magic before he did something "irreversibly stupid" in front of an audience. Harry was very happy for Snape's cautiousness as he watched the pillow rocket to the ceiling and break apart in a shower of feathers.

So, he had orders to avoid spellwork as much as possible until he had learned to control this new level of power. This was the focus of every DADA class and any extra time that Harry could eke out of his schedule.

Harry had cautiously made inquiries among the Gryffindors that he knew Umbridge had punished and anyone else in the other houses that they remembered being punished as well. No one else had a visible scar from the punishment, and Snape had explained that a scar was necessary for a curse to have any lasting effect from a blood quill. This explained Umbridge's determination to see Harry's hand at the end of each detention.

A week later, Harry was feeling more confident but knew that he would have to continue working on his control for some time yet. Hermione had found him a memoir from a former Headmaster of Hogwarts that provided some helpful information on dealing with sudden power surges. Draco and Ron had spent hours with him practicing and practicing. Draco was good with the details: precise hand movements and exact pronunciations that controlled a spell's effects that Harry had never had to pay attention to. Ron was good at devising plans of study based on which spells would be most harmless when wild while still taking into account spells that Harry might be expected to perform in classes. Snape, of course, could explain the theory of any given spell or set of spells in excruciating detail. Harry found that the theory gave him some background that helped him even with unrelated spells. It was sort of like understanding the theory of how to write would help someone understand and appreciate a novel in more detail.

Harry thanked Merlin that he had people around him who always seemed willing to help. He knew he couldn't do it without them.

#

About a week and a half after Snape had undone Umbridge's careful plan, Harry fell asleep on his Transfiguration book. He had been working extra hard to stay ahead in all of his classes. He was quite good at most of the practical applications of his classes, but the theory was very difficult for him to understand. If he didn't read and reread chapters before they started going over them in class, he got hopelessly lost very quickly.

Shortly after falling asleep, he was pulled into Voldemort's mind. Voldemort had two Dealth Eaters at his feet. The first, who Harry didn't recognize, was writhing and screaming in pain. Voldemort lifted the curse and said, "I am very angry with you. You should have known about Severus and the Malfoy heir before this. Leave us and be glad that I have decided not to kill you for now." He turned to the second man, and Harry realized it was Wormtail. "What can you tell me, my little rat?"

"My lord, I was able to confirm that both Severus and Draco Malfoy have turned to Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore. I am able to get quite close to the castle in my rat form and heard some students chattering about it on the edge of the forest during a lesson with that oaf, Hagrid."

"Very good, Peter. I am glad that I have at least one faithful servant." Voldemort spun around and pointed his wand at some furniture. He blasted the table and chairs repeatedly until they were reduced to very small splinters. "What am I going to do without a competent Potions Master?" he bellowed. Spinning, he focused on the cringing form below him again, "I will need you to keep me informed of the goings-on at Hogwarts now that I have no other reliable source of information. I would prefer to keep you near me, but I have no choice. You will spend as much time as necessary to find out their plans. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, my lord." Wormtail bowed even further as he said this, his forehead touching the ground.

"Yes, indeed. See that you prove to be a better spy than Severus, or you will regret it. Now, get up and tell Avery to come in."

Shortly after Avery bowed his way in to the room, he admitted to having no new information from his Ministry sources. Voldemort, still angry, vented his displeasure on Avery's head. Harry heard him screaming and could hear the echo of the pain and screaming in his own head.

Suddenly, he was ripped out of the vision. When he opened his eyes, Ron was standing over him with a pitcher of water in his hands. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but all that emerged was a low moan.

"Harry, are you OK?"

Harry nodded his head very gently to avoid more pain. He became aware of Hermione over Ron's shoulder. Apparently, he had fallen asleep in the common room, and they had both come down to wake him. He wasn't sure what alerted them, but that question was answered shortly as Snape and Draco burst into the room.

"What's wrong? This mark woke me up." Draco sounded a bit out of breath from climbing so many stairs and had only thrown a bathrobe on over his pajamas, but Snape looked as collected as usual in his standard black robes.

"It's Harry. I woke up and came down here to find him screaming. It was like one of the visions he used to get. He wouldn't wake up, so I finally threw some water on him to snap him out of it," Ron reported concisely.

Draco was on his knees by Harry's chain in an instant. "Harry, are you OK? Can you hear me? What hurts?" He grabbed and held Harry frantically and didn't seem to notice the wince of pain this was causing. Hermione and Ron were trying to gently pry him away from Harry, but it wasn't working.

Suddenly, Snape barked, "Mr. Malfoy, let go and step back this instant."

Years of training kicked in, and Draco immediately did as he was told. He looked down at Harry and realized he had caused some of the pain on Harry's face. "Oh, bugger, Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Harry just nodded in understanding and reached out to squeeze Draco's hand. He turned to Snape with an apology in his eyes. Snape cut him off. "You can apologize for your carelessness later, Mr. Potter. For right now, take this. It's a general pain reliever."

Harry raised his hands to grab the phial, but they were shaking too much to take the stopper out. Hermione stepped in quickly and took the phial and removed the stopper. She then held the phial to Harry lips so he could drink. A few minutes later, Harry's eyes opened, and they were a bit clearer.

"Tell us what happened," Snape commanded, and they all took seats around Harry.

Harry explained about studying late and how he must have fallen asleep on his book. Hermione interjected that she had moved the book while Ron was getting the water to wake Harry up. Harry then described the vision and Voldemort's plan to get information on Hogwarts using Wormtail in his rat form.

"Stay here, all of you. I need to get a few more potions from my storeroom. I will be back shortly."

Harry turned to Ron and Hermione. "Thanks, guys, for moving so quickly. Bugger, that hurts."

"No problem, mate. I haven't seen you like that for a while, but all the old training just kicked right in. I knew I had to get you awake and out of there as soon as possible."

"Harry, if you are in Voldemort's head, how come you feel the curses that he throws at other people?" Hermione was puzzled.

"I don't. The pain is more from mental proximity to his evilness — think possession plus a really bad Occlumency session plus a little something extra from whatever he left behind in this." He poked at his scar. He grinned and turned to Draco. "Draco, stop it. You didn't do anything wrong, and I'm not going to fall apart. Come over here and hold me, damn it."

Draco had been sitting across from Harry in one of the single chairs. He got up hesitantly and sat down gingerly next to Harry on his couch. "You sure?"

"Please." Harry reinforced his message by lowering his head to Draco's shoulder.

"Hold on a sec." Draco adjusted his position so he was leaning against the corner of the couch with one leg up against the back cushions. Then, he reached over and drew Harry against him, cradling Harry's half-prone form against his chest. He ran one hand into Harry's hair, and the other started to rub soothingly on Harry's back. Harry sighed in contentment while Hermione beamed and Ron shook his head disbelievingly.

"Who'd a thunk it? Draco Malfoy cuddling Harry Potter in the Gryffindor common room." Draco just stuck his tongue out at Ron.

Around that time, Snape came back into the room. It seemed that Heads of House were allowed entrance to any common room with a special password for emergencies. He handed a phial to Harry and said briefly, "It's an anti-nausea potion." Harry took it without moving his head much from Draco's chest. "That is Dreamless Sleep and another general pain reliever." Snape put two more phials on the table in front of Harry and Draco. "I trust you are self-aware enough to know if all of them are necessary and have spent enough time in the Infirmary to know what order to take them in. We will discuss all of this in more detail tomorrow. Can everyone meet in my office at 4 PM?"

"Yes, sir," they chorused in unison.

He raised en eyebrow at them all and then spun from the room. At the door, he shot back, "Go to bed, all of you!"

Ron and Hermione giggled and started to get up from their chairs. "Well, he didn't say you had to go back to your room. Why don't you come up with us, instead?" Ron smirked as he invited Draco upstairs. "Wouldn't want to get caught out in the hallways at this hour, after all." With that, he turned to Hermione. They spoke a few words to each other, too quietly for Harry and Draco to hear, then kissed goodnight and headed up their respective staircases.

"What do you say? Can you stay?" Harry looked up at Draco hopefully.

"Sure. But we are going to sleep, that's it. Hear me?"

Harry nodded and then started to extricate himself from Draco. "Or, we could just sleep here." He flopped back down as he realized how weak his arms and legs were.

"Come on. I'll help."

With a bit of work, Draco and Harry made it off of the couch and up the stairs to Harry's bed. Harry hadn't changed into his pajamas earlier and was too tired now. Instead, Draco helped him strip down to his boxers, and they climbed under the covers. Then, he downed his potions from Snape and snuggled into Draco's side to sleep. This might have been the first time they'd slept in the same bed, but Harry was too tired to care how needy all of the snuggling made him look.

#


	16. Chapter 16

The next day, Harry woke up spooned with Draco. Harry was on his side with Draco behind him and his arm wrapped over Harry. Harry had grabbed Draco's hand and had it sandwiched between his own two hands. Harry felt content in a way that he hadn't for ages. All of the pain from the night before was completely gone, and he felt surprisingly well rested. He wiggled a little until he felt even closer against Draco's front. Draco woke with a squeeze of his arm.

"What time 'zit?"

Harry grabbed for his wand and cast a quiet _Tempus_. "Six."

"Hmm." Draco started to sit up, but Harry kept hold of his hand. "Gotta' get outta' here b'fore ev'one wakes up."

"We have a few minutes." Harry rolled his hips and stuck out his arse a bit more. Draco moaned quietly. Harry grabbed his wand again and put up a silencing spell on the bed. Then, he rolled over to face Draco. He bit his lip and looked at Draco from beneath his lashes. Then, he leaned forward, kissed Draco, and let his instincts take over.

#

"Sir, I don't know what happened. I've fallen asleep unexpectedly before. I haven't had a vision since before Sirius…" Harry's voice trailed off as he looked away from Snape. They were in Snape's office waiting for everyone else to join them for their meeting about Harry's vision.

"I would guess that it was a combination of factors. One: you were tired enough to fall asleep while studying. Two: You have been working hard these past few weeks and consistently not getting enough sleep or practicing Occlumency. Three: The Dark Lord was especially angry. I would recommend you be more careful about taking care of yourself. Your studies are important, but your health is more so."

"Yes, sir. I'll try."

"Damn right, you will. I'm not letting you get like that again," Draco interjected. He had walked in to hear the end of the conversation. "You work too hard."

"Draco, I have to work that hard. I'm not smart like you and Hermione."

"Mr. Potter, we've had this conversation. You are not to keep repeating things those Muggles told you."

"I…" Harry opened his mouth and closed it. Sometimes, Harry still didn't believe how far his relationship with Snape had come since last year. It was strange enough having a civil conversation with him, let alone having him willingly giving him extra lessons. Now, he was caring about his self-esteem, and Harry was almost sure that someone had replaced the greasy git with a new model over the summer. But that was OK with Harry since he liked the new model better anyway. Even if Snape was just being practical ("You cannot defeat the Dark Lord if you are doubting yourself, Mr. Potter"), it was still working.

"OK. I'm not as good at learning theory and stuff from books as Draco and Hermione are."

"Better. Now, perhaps if you asked Draco and Hermione for help understanding your textbooks, you wouldn't have to spend as much time rereading them."

"Yes, sir." Harry sounded ashamed. He knew he had made a resolution to ask for help when he needed it, but it was a lot easier said then done.

By now, Hermione and Ron had joined them, and Hermione piped in, "Harry, I would be happy to help. I know you're working a couple of chapters ahead in most of our classes, so you can understand things when we get to them in class. I'm usually far enough ahead to help you with anything that you don't get the first time through."

"And I can help you when Hermione doesn't have the time. I'm not as anal retentive as she is, but I should be able to figure out anything that I haven't read already without too much difficulty as long as you're only a chapter or two ahead. You know I like theory work almost better than the practical stuff."

Harry nodded to them both. "Thanks."

"Well, I certainly can't help you with your classes. But, I can always pretend to be Mum and nag you about going to bed at a reasonable hour." Ron's eyes twinkled at Harry.

Harry cracked a smile and gave a small, self-deprecating chuckle. "What would I do without you guys?"

"Oh, you'd a been dead in first year without us. Probably from that Devil's Snare or the chess set."

Now, Harry managed a more genuine smile. "Yeah, but if it wasn't for Hermione, I wouldn't have had to worry about that troll."

"Oh, and it's my fault I didn't hear the announcement because I was in the loo?"

The three friends giggled while Draco and Snape looked at each other with that "Stupid Gryffindors" look on their faces.

#

A bit later, they had all settled down, and Harry had told them all about the vision again, in case he'd missed any details the night before.

"So, how do we make sure Wormtail can't get in? Rats are pretty hard to ward against in a castle this big. Plus, he doesn't need to get into the castle to hear what he needs to hear." Harry summed up his concerns.

"Miss Granger, have you heard of any wards that we could use that would disallow Wormtail specifically since he isn't really a rat?"

"Well, there are ones to use to keep an Animagus confined or in his human form. But, that would affect everyone in the castle because there aren't really ways to key it to Pettigrew specifically."

"What if we let him get in?" They all turned to Ron in surprise. "Well, we could trap him or something and get information out of him. Then, we would Obliviate him and let him overhear bad information and send him back to You Know Who. Crookshanks could always sniff him out; I'm sure he still could."

"And how, exactly, do we get information out of him, Mr. Weasely?"

"Veritaserum?" Hermione asked.

"Believe it or not, I don't have any on hand, and it takes some time to brew." Snape's pronouncement met with silence.

Harry jumped in, "He owes me a life-debt. Could we use that against him?"

"If the information you want leads to preventing your death, it might work."

"Well, he's got to know more about how to kill the Dark Lord than just about anyone, right?" Draco asked. "Harry told me he was the one who resurrected him, so he must know _something_ that could help. Since the Dark Lord is always trying to kill Harry, I think information that would lead to his death would be preventing Harry's death. Right?"

"It's a bit of a stretch. The magic that links the two of them in the life debt would probably not harm Pettigrew unless the circumstances were a bit more immediate. However, we might be able to convince him otherwise. He isn't likely to be thinking clearly if we capture him." Snape had an evil smirk on his face.

"OK, but how do we trap him in the first place?" Hermione, ever the practical one, started the discussion of the details of what they started calling The Rat Trap.

#

Christmas holidays had just begun, and Harry was having a restless day. He had tried flying earlier to work off the excess energy, but it hadn't worked. Draco had selflessly volunteered to work out some of Harry's _frustrations,_ but that had, surprisingly, also not worked. Now, Harry was on the Astronomy Tower. It was after curfew, and he couldn't seem to get rid of the itching under his skin and the crawling feeling that he wanted to be _doing_ something. He almost wished he could fight Snape in one of their mock Death Eater battles. But even if it wasn't so late, he didn't feel in control of his magic enough for a duel with Snape or anyone else. Harry was attempting, unsuccessfully, to tame the feeling with some much-needed meditation when he sensed another person approaching the tower. He wasn't really sure how he knew someone was coming, but he spun to the entrance anyway with his wand at the ready.

"Harry, it is good to see that you are being vigilant. Did you hear me coming?" Dumbledore had a mild look on his face, but Harry somehow knew that he was surprised that Harry had anticipated his arrival.

Harry cocked his head to the side as if he was working out a puzzle and lowered his wand. "I didn't hear you exactly."

"Ah. Then, I am doubly glad I came."

"I don't understand, Headmaster."

"No, I don't imagine you would. Can I ask you a few questions before I explain?" Harry nodded his acceptance. "First, have you experienced any difficulty with your magic lately?" He paused for a moment, but before Harry could collect himself to answer, he continued, "I think that I can take the look on your face to mean yes. Could you tell me about it?"

"I…" Harry looked helplessly at Dumbledore as he tried to think of a way to tell the story without telling parts of it he would rather keep private. He decided, in the end, to concentrate on the magic and not the why. "Well, I've recently had a power surge and am having a bit of a control issue. But, I've been practicing a lot, and Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Professor Snape are all helping me deal with it."

"I see. I imagine there is more to that story, but I will not press you for details that you don't want to give if I don't have to. Does Professor Snape know all of the details that you aren't telling me?"

Harry nodded.

"OK, then I will assume I don't need to know them. Can you tell me what has driven you out here tonight?"

Harry didn't know what this had to do with anything, but he didn't see any reason to be anything but honest. "I'm not really sure; I'm just feeling restless. I've been having trouble settling down to anything quiet today, so sleeping was out of the question for now."

Dumbledore nodded as if Harry's answer was just as he had expected. Harry felt his impatience to know what was going on rise, but he pushed it down after reminding himself that Dumbledore had said he would explain after he got a few questions answered.

"One last question, Harry." Harry assumed Dumbledore had sensed Harry's impatience, and he was grateful for the reassurance. "Just now, you said that you didn't hear me coming exactly. But you had obviously known I was coming. Can you explain how you knew?"

"No." Harry's response was immediate, but Dumbledore's continued silence led him to think back to that moment of clarity. "I'm really not sure. I didn't see you or hear you, but I just knew someone was coming. Maybe I sensed your magic?" This last was said with a skeptical, questioning tone. Harry didn't even know if such a thing were possible.

"Excellent, Harry. I think that may be exactly what it was. I think your sudden power surge and loss of control as well as today's restlessness are linked to something in your magic coming to the fore. Today is Midwinter, a day linked with the natural cycles of the earth and the other elements. I think it is triggering some of your latent powers now that you have enough power to support them. These latent powers are linked to the elements and may allow you to do things you could not until now."

"I don't understand."

"I don't entirely myself. What I know is that the wards alerted me to something odd happening up here on this tower; and when I came to investigate, I found you already alerted to my presence. I have for many years managed to travel through Hogwarts and observe people and happenings without anyone sensing my presence unless I wished them to. Yet, you knew I was coming. It would be logical to assume that some extra sense alerted you. I have read of wizards who were close to the elements and could do many wondrous things with powers that no one else seemed to have or understand. They all seemed to have a special sense of magic — in the air, in the earth, in other people. Some of the things that you are experiencing, along with the coincidence of today's date and your restlessness, lead me to believe that you may be becoming one of those wizards, Harry."

"A power the Dark Lord knows not." Harry's voice trailed off as he remembered the words of the prophecy. He looked up at Dumbledore, who was smiling at him.

"Indeed, Harry, you may be right. I am certain that Tom Riddle is not an elemental wizard. In fact, I don't believe there is anyone living who is."

"So, what do I do?"

"For now, nothing that you aren't doing already. Continue your training and studying. I need to do a little research before I can tell you much more."

"Headmaster, would it affect things if I told you that my power surge was not entirely natural?"

"I'm not sure, Harry. Is this related to what you were not telling me earlier?" At Harry's nod, he continued, "Without knowing more, it is hard to say. I'm sorry that you feel you can't tell me something, but I hope you know that I am happy to listen if you decide you want to tell me."

Harry bit his lip. He still didn't want to tell anyone else about Umbridge if he could help it, but he supposed he might have to. "I'll think about it."

"Try to get some sleep soon, Harry. You need your rest." With that last thought, Dumbledore turned and left the tower.

#

_Sorry for the long delay. I just spent the last five days or so reading a great story and barely doing anything else. It's complete, really long, and a wonderful read if you like Snarry and don't mind a bit of smut. You should check it out: _Death Eater Takes a Holiday_ by Lee Lee Potter at /eff/viewstory.php?sid564._


	17. Chapter 17

Part 4: Rebirth

Harry stood out on the Tower for a bit longer, but the news that he was going to be set apart by yet one more thing was apparently distressing enough to conquer the itchy, restless feeling, and Harry realized he was weary beyond all measure. He made his way to his room and burrowed under his blankets.

He vaguely recalled Ron trying to wake him the next morning. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep by then, but the thought of getting out of bed and facing one more responsibility was just too much for him. He turned his back to the open curtains (and the bright windows visible beyond them), threw the covers over his head, and went back to sleep.

The next he knew, it was very bright and someone was ripping the covers off his head and bouncing. He was fairly certain that if his wand had been handy, he would have hexed whoever it was — shaky control of his magic be damned. As it was, he had left it on his bedside table, and the bouncing presence was between Harry and it. He peeled open an eye and saw Draco looking at him with a perky expression that was positively unnatural.

"What th' hell."

"It's almost dinnertime. You've been sleeping all day. We've decided it was time for you to get up."

Harry became aware of the fact that Ron and Hermione were standing behind Draco and watching Harry carefully. He supposed they had more experience with his temper and were keeping their distance to let Draco take the heat. Harry found that he was surprisingly not angry. In fact, he didn't feel much of anything but a leaden weight on his chest. Ah yes, that's right, elemental wizard. Only one alive. Dumbledore doesn't even know what it means. Destined to kill Voldemort. Now, he remembered.

"I'm not hungry, Draco. Go 'way." He closed his eyes and attempted to go back to sleep. Draco just started bouncing again. Damn him. Harry still couldn't work up the energy to feel much of anything but weariness. He swiveled his head to the side and looked at Draco. "Fine. I'll get up and eat. Move." Draco got up quickly, and Harry swiveled his legs over and off the bed. Next, he pushed up and out of the bed. Damn, that took way too much effort. He grabbed his toiletries and shuffled towards the showers. He so needed a hot shower.

#

"Harry, please tell us what's wrong." Hermione sounded as if she had asked this question already a few times, and she was getting desperate. Harry brow furrowed. He supposed she could have. He really didn't remember much of dinner as it had passed in a blur as he mechanically ate the food that someone put in front of him.

"I have to kill Voldemort." Harry was kind of surprised that was what came out of his mouth. He had known that since the end of last year. He automatically reverted to one of his meditative practices that allowed him to step away from his emotions and see them from a more objective distance. He realized that this was indeed bothering him because now it was more real. Before, he hadn't really believed it. After all, how could he do something that even Dumbledore couldn't? He didn't know nearly enough, and he wasn't that great of a wizard. Now that he might be an elemental wizard, it was more real. He had a power that Voldemort and Dumbledore did not. He really was going to have to kill Tom Riddle.

That thought made him gasp, and he smacked out of his trance and out of his objective distance. He looked up at Ron and Hermione, who were both looking at him helplessly. "I don't want to kill anyone. Tom Riddle was just a lonely orphan, like me. How can I kill him for striking out like I wanted to do?"

"Oh, Harry."

"You're nothing like that snake-faced bastard, so don't you go confusing the issue." Ron's face was red and flushed. Harry was reminded of wild animals that puffed up or grew agitated when their young or a member of their pack were threatened.

"But."

"No, Harry. Tom Riddle was a lonely orphan. But he chose to let it make him bitter, and he chose to take that bitterness out on innocent people. He is no longer that boy you saw in that diary. Don't compare yourself to him. You chose to be kind and compassionate and loving despite what the Dursleys and Voldemort did to make your childhood miserable."

"It's our choices that make us what we are." Harry echoed Dumbledore's words from a few years ago in a vague tone. He looked up at Ron and Hermione, who were both nodding vigorously. Suddenly, he realized that he really wanted to talk to them. But he also wanted to talk to Draco, and more importantly, be held by him. He was becoming entirely too dependant on the physical comfort that only Draco seemed capable of giving him. "Do you think one of you could go get Draco? We could all meet up in the Room and talk."

"Absolutely. I'll go get him right now." Ron still looked a bit like a puffer fish, but he seemed somewhat mollified by the request. Hermione just smiled at him somewhat sadly.

#

Harry settled back in the soft cushions that the Room of Requirement had provided for them. It was about an hour later, and Harry had let everyone convince him of something he'd probably known last night: He needed to tell Dumbledore about Umbridge and how he got his magic back. However, he had made Draco promise that if Snape couldn't go with him, Draco would.

Oddly, Harry felt better for that resolution. Apparently, that had been one of the weights sitting heavily on his chest. As to the other burdens — Hermione had, of course, promised to do some research on elemental wizards. Draco and Ron had reiterated their commitment to helping him practice his spells. There was nothing like a burden shared. Now that the anvil was slowly lifting from his chest, he realized that the itchy, restless feeling hadn't gone away. It had died down to a low buzz, but it was still there. When he mentioned this, Draco had quietly promised to help him "work off" some of the extra energy. He was so giving.

Right now, he was settling in for a bit of meditation training. He really needed the relaxation himself, but he had promised to try to teach Draco, Ron, and Hermione, so he was also keeping one part of his brain active as he talked quietly and evenly. Slowly, he guided his friends to a peaceful place in their own minds and hoped that what little he was giving back was enough for all they were giving him.

#

Harry went to visit Snape early the next day. Not surprisingly for the new and improved Snape, he was eager to help. Harry also thought he was looking forward to hearing about the whole elemental wizard thing from Dumbledore himself. He didn't look entirely convinced when Harry said Dumbledore hadn't told him any more about it. Harry had a feeling Dumbledore was in for the third degree for once.

With no classes to work around, they headed right to Dumbledore's office. Neither of them was silly enough to think they would surprise him. However, neither of them was expecting what they saw when they got to his office. Dumbledore's desk was covered with books, and his beard looked disheveled — as if he had been running his hands through it. He might not have been surprised, but he did look distracted.

"Ah, boys. It's good to see you. Would you like some tea?" He looked around his desk and seemed to realize that he didn't actually have any tea to offer them. Harry wasn't sure who looked more disconcerted: Dumbledore or Snape. Harry felt utterly uncomfortable with his two unflappable constants looking so nonplussed. Before he could think about what he was doing, he silently and wandlessly conjured a table with a tea service and some piping hot tea. Harry was staring in shock at the rooster-shaped tea cozy holding its head proudly above the rest of the tray and didn't notice the silent exchange between his two professors. Snape had assumed Dumbledore had conjured the tea until he shook his head and inclined it in Harry's direction. Harry blinked a few times as the weight of their puzzled stares snapped him out of reverie.

"Did I do that?"

"Yes, my boy, I believe you did."

"How?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Can you tell me what you were thinking right before the tea service showed up?"

"Well, you offered us tea, but then we all noticed there wasn't any. Both you and Professor Snape looked kinda, I don't know, uncomfortable. I remember wishing I could fix it and make it so there was tea for all of us. Then, suddenly, there it was. Are you sure the house elves didn't do it?"

The headmaster had been looking at Harry over his glasses. He shook his head slowly back and forth. Harry was strangely glad that his eyes weren't twinkling. "I don't think so. This felt different. But, let's check, shall we?" At Harry's nod, he raised his head and called for Dobby. When the house elf appeared, Dumbledore asked him if he or any of the rest of the house elves had sent tea up to his office in the past few minutes.

"No, Headmaster, sir. Would sir be needing tea, sir?" The over-exuberant house elf didn't seem to notice the full tea service sitting on the other side of Dumbledore's desk.

"No, Dobby, I just wanted to be sure one of you didn't send this up here." He indicated the table Harry had conjured with a wave of his hand.

"Oh, no sir. We didn't, sir. Would sir like me to take it away, sir?"

"No, that will be fine. As it happens, I wanted some tea. Thank you, Dobby. You may go back to your other duties." As Dobby winked out of existence, the Headmaster turned to Harry. "Perhaps you should play Mother?"

"Is that wise, Albus?" Snape had sat back and listened to the previous exchange, but as Harry got up to pour the tea, he spoke up. "We don't know for certain where that tea came from or even if it is tea at all."

"Yes, I suppose I see your point. Constant vigilance, as Alastor would say." He waved his wand and summoned the teapot to his desk. He took off the tea cozy, gave it a puzzled look, and put it aside. He then waved his wand over the teapot itself in lazy circles. His eyes closed and his lips moved in an inaudible spell — or three. Harry held his breath. "Well, it appears that we have a very fine English Breakfast." He opened his eyes, and they had regained their sparkle. "Nothing more and nothing less. Shall I pour?"

At that point, even Snape couldn't object. After all, if Albus Dumbledore said it was safe, who was he to gainsay him? Harry watched the Headmaster pour and serve the tea as he had so many times before in this room, and the very normalcy of it started to settle his nerves. Of course, that didn't mean that his cup didn't rattle in its saucer as he took it from mid air where it was hovering. He quickly put it down and decided he didn't really need to drink it. Professor Snape had put his down without tasting it, as well, but Harry had a feeling that had more to do with still not trusting that it was entirely safe.

Professor Dumbledore took a sip of his tea and put it down with a pleased sigh. "Mmmm, perfectly brewed and piping hot: Just the way I like it." He turned to his visitors with a perfectly calm expression. "Well, shall we get to why you came to visit?"

#

By the time Harry had explained about Umbridge, Dumbledore's eyes had lost their sparkle. When Professor Snape explained about all they had to do to rid Harry of the curse, the Headmaster looked angry and a bit frightening. When Harry explained about the sudden surge of magic and how they were all working hard to practice in controlled situations but how Harry still couldn't reliably cast some magic, Dumbledore reminded Harry of some footage he had seen on the telly once of a hurricane — wild and dangerous. In the silence that followed, both Harry and Snape forgot their wariness of the conjured tea and grabbed their cups and sipped. Was it the tea itself that was English people's refuge, or did they all just learn at a young age to fuss with a teacup when they didn't have anything to say to fill an awkward silence?

"Well, it is certainly disheartening to hear about all that can still go wrong here at Hogwarts without my knowledge." Harry looked up and was relieved to see that Dumbledore seemed to have regained some of his calm and control. Harry really didn't want to know what would happen if Albus Dumbledore lost control of his magic. Harry knew that blowing up Aunt Marge would be positively mild compared to what might happen if that were the case. "I am very glad that you came to me with this story. Did I understand you correctly that you recorded some scans of Harry's hand and all that was done to reverse the curse?"

"Yes, sir. I was concerned that Umbridge might show up again, and Professor Snape had the recording device from when he works on new potions."

"Very good. A wise precaution. One never knows when one might need such a record. I want to say, Harry, that I am very sorry that I couldn't protect you and the rest of the students from all that happened last year because of that woman."

"Thank you, sir. But, well, we don't blame you. It's obviously pretty difficult to get a decent DADA teacher. I know you tried your best."

"Well, that wasn't good enough, was it?" Dumbledore paused, and there was a shift in his posture and facial expression. Harry knew the Headmaster carried many burdens and regrets, and he hated to be added to that list. "Setting aside for the moment how it happened, I'm very glad it could be reversed. Severus, your work with Harry has been invaluable. Once again, you've lived up to my high expectations and exceeded them." Snape merely nodded. "Well, this does explain how your powers seemed to come from nowhere. Unfortunately, we cannot reverse time and make them come on gradually so we have plenty of warning and time for you to learn control."

Harry wasn't really thinking of his powers when he was thinking of reversing time. If he had told someone about what Umbridge was doing, would that have changed things enough that Sirius was still alive? Harry raised his head to look at Dumbledore. He seemed to waiting for something, so Harry told himself again that the past was past and shook off the maudlin thoughts. "No, sir, we can't."

"Now, from what little I've learned since I spoke to you, it seems that the last confirmed elemental was a witch born in the U.S. She died on October 8, 1871, in Chicago at the age of 16. There is a side note about a fire starting in a barn; some believe she started it accidentally with her uncontrolled power. There isn't much written in my sources about Bess O'Leary because she died at such a young age. However, I do have a friend making some inquiries to see if more can be found. In the meantime, I was looking at what we know about Ivan Petrovich, a Russian wizard who was purported to be an elemental in the 1500s. Some sources claim he could affect the weather while others claim this was just a legend. Frankly, there isn't much written about elementals because they are so rare. However, I do have a good overview about the theory of how an elemental affects and is affected by the world that I'd like you to review. It doesn't go into much detail, but I thought it would be a good introduction for you." He took a dusty tome from the pile on his desk and floated it across to Harry. "In the meantime, I am going to need some help with this research."

"I'm sure that Hermione would be glad to help, sir."

"Yes, Albus, I would also like to read some of the material you have available. I imagine I have some sources that you don't have access to. If I have a better idea of what I'm looking for, I might be able to find some useful information."

"That would be wonderful. Harry, you look exhausted. Why don't you go back to your room and rest? If you see Miss Granger, send her up here. Professor Snape and I will work on getting more information for you."

#

_Yes, the reference to the fire in Chicago was intentional. I crack myself up :)_


	18. Chapter 18

Harry had gone back to the tower. As he passed through the common room, he caught Ron and Hermione's eye, and they followed him to the boys' room. He had quickly told them about the meeting and then sent Hermione up to the Headmaster's office. Ron had headed back to the common room when Harry had told him he was planning a nap.

Now, Harry was lying on his back staring at the hangings on his bed. His eyes wouldn't stay closed no matter how he tried to clear his mind. Finally, he stopped trying to force it. He lay quietly and focused on the bed hangings. He let go of his thoughts and let them run rampant. He let the worry about his new powers go. True, he had sudden and uncontrolled power. But, what happened when he wasn't planning it? He conjured tea, for Merlin's sake. Nothing dangerous, nothing to be concerned about. Next, he thought of killing Voldemort. True, he would have to kill. But his choice was that or be killed himself. And Voldemort wouldn't stop with Harry. With Harry out of the way, he would undoubtedly kill more and more of his enemies and innocent Muggles. Someone had to stop him, and the prophecy seemed to indicate that person was Harry. So, it was good that he had this new unexpected power. There was no reason to think that he wouldn't be able to control it eventually. The Headmaster, Professor Snape, and Hermione would find some information to help him. It wouldn't happen overnight, but it would happen. He had to believe that.

OK, next. How was he going to kill Voldemort? Well, that brought him back to the new power. He was fairly certain the answer was there. He was also fairly certain that once he got more comfortable with it, the answer would become obvious. There was no reason to obsess over something he couldn't do anything about right now. Right now, his job was to work on his control and practice standard spells. He could do that. He had to remember not to get ahead of himself. One step at a time.

Already, he could feel himself relaxing marginally as he gave himself the pep talk. But still, he could feel the itching. Instead of trying to ignore it, he focused on it. Slowly, his world narrowed down to the feeling under his skin. The more he focused on it, the less it itched. The physical sensation dimmed, and Harry found himself completely unaware of the outside world.

He must have fallen asleep because he woke up with a gasp. He closed his eyes again as he reviewed the dream — or was it multiple dreams — he had been having. Somehow, he knew it was important, and he knew that the only way to do it was to go over the details consciously in his head before he forgot them. He was fairly certain it started with a straightforward memory of one of his lessons with Dumbledore. They were discussing Voldemort/Tom Riddle and Dumbledore's suspicions about him creating Horcruxes to ensure his immortality. Dumbledore believed Voldemort had split his soul into six or seven pieces and deposited it in various objects, known as Horcruxes. This was why Voldemort hadn't died when the killing curse bounced off Harry and hit him. They were discussing Dumbledore's supposition that Riddle's diary from Harry's second year had been the first.

Then, in the way of dreams, Harry was someplace completely different instantly, and it made perfect sense at the time. He was handing the diary back to Lucius Malfoy, and Malfoy was ripping the sock off of it that freed Dobby. At the time, Harry hadn't given a thought to the diary. Now, he watched as Lucius picked himself up off the floor after Dobby sent him hurtling down the stairs. He swirled his cloak around himself and left, diary still in hand. As Harry's dream eyes focused on the diary, he started to see fine lines radiating from it. He followed one with his eyes, but it didn't have a visible end. He looked back at the book and tried to commit the sight to memory. He didn't know why, but he knew it was important. As Dobby popped away, the sound had awoken Harry from his dream gasping.

Harry was lying in bed on his back, but he wasn't seeing the canopy. Instead, he was seeing the dream as he reviewed it for the third or fourth time. He was pretty sure he had it now. Still, he knew it would be a good idea to preserve the memory somehow. He got up and headed to Dumbledore's office. He thought about his special lessons this year. Whenever he had a lesson with Dumbledore instead of Snape, it was about Tom Riddle/Voldemort with the aim of understanding him and figuring out how to stop him. In those lessons, they had watched a number of Pensieve memories together.

Twenty minutes later, Harry and Dumbledore were bent over that same Pensieve. But this time, Harry was watching his own memory instead of someone else's. It was unnerving. When they got to the part where Lucius was walking away with the diary, Harry pointed at the lines he could see radiating from it. Dumbledore just looked at him in puzzlement. Apparently, he couldn't see them.

After they emerged, Dumbledore asked Harry to describe what he saw again. "Well, they were red and sort of radiated from the book — like you would draw the rays of the sun when you were a kid. As they got further away, they sort of spread and got lighter in color."

"Well, I would say that based on recent developments, you must be seeing some kind of magic. Even in a memory of your dream, I could not see them, so it seems the logical conclusion."

"The other Horcruxes," Harry breathed.

"Again, that seems to be the logical conclusion."

"So, if we could figure out where the diary is now, I might be able to trace those lines to the other Horcruxes."

"It might be possible. On the other hand, the dream might be more symbolic. By the time Mr. Malfoy was walking away after freeing Dobby, that diary was no longer a Horcrux. It may no longer have any links to the others. However, I think it would be prudent to try to retrieve the diary just in case it is more literal. Then, we would just have to figure out how to destroy them. After all, we don't all have a basilisk fang handy." Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling. "Perhaps, we could use this dream of yours to at least resolve the question of how many Horcruxes Voldemort has created. Do you remember how many 'rays' were coming off the book?"

Harry closed his eyes and tried to picture the book. It wasn't working. Lucius' body made it difficult to see all sides of the book. Instead, Harry tried to think back to when he saw the actual book right after Fawkes dropped it in his lap in the Chamber of Secrets. He put the image in the front of his mind and used all of his meditation training to filter out anything else. He could feel his breathing slow down and like it did back in his bedroom, everything else faded away. He made the memory of the book clear and real. Slowly, the diary became more three dimensional in his mind. He could smell the Chamber around him, and he could almost reach out and grab the diary.

With his new eyes, he could see the magic coming off the book. It reeked of it. This was before Harry had destroyed it, so it still contained all of the magic inherent in a container for Voldemort's soul. He filtered that out, but then the magical aura disappeared — including the lines that connected it to the other Horcruxes. He tried again. This time he didn't filter out the magic but focused on it like he had focused on the itching sensation back in his room. This time, he saw the aura grow brighter, and the red lines reappeared. He focused on them, one at a time, and counted. Six.

He opened his eyes and looked at Dumbledore. "Six lines. That means seven objects total and that other than Voldemort himself, there are five more to find and destroy."

"And if we can find where Lucius put the diary, we might be able to use it to locate the other five."

"Maybe I could locate the diary if I was near it. I think I would recognize the residual magic on it."

"That could be very helpful. Of course, we have to get you within range of it. Perhaps Draco could be helpful in that endeavor."

"How much about the Horcruxes am I allowed to tell everyone?"

"You may tell all or any of this story to Professor Snape. His training in Occlumency means there is little risk of the information getting out no matter what situation he finds himself in. However, I think we should still keep most of this information from the rest of your group."

"Can I at least tell Draco that I'd like to locate the diary even if I can't tell him why?"

"Yes, I believe that would be safe."

"OK. Hopefully, he has some idea of where to start looking." There was a pause as Harry tried to gather his thoughts.

"Sir?" Harry paused and looked at Dumbledore. "We've learned that Wormtail has been sent to spy on Hogwarts. We were planning on trying to capture him and seeing if I could use my life debt to pressure him for information about Voldemort. I didn't tell the rest of the group, but I was hoping Wormtail could direct me to one or two of the Horcruxes since he spent so much time with Voldemort leading up to his resurrection. With this new information, we might not need his information."

"It's still a sound option. Until we can find the diary and know for certain that you can use it to find the other Horcruxes, I think you should keep it open."

"Yes, sir. But I was wondering if there was any other information that I should look for if given the opportunity."

"Hmm. Very wise, Harry. I will think on that and let you know what I come up with."

"Yes, sir."

"In the meantime, I would like to see you develop these new abilities of yours. You seem to be making progress on your own. In addition, I think you should go talk to Professor Snape while all of this is still fresh in your memory."

Harry nodded and got up to leave. He knew a dismissal when he heard one.

#

On the way back to Gryffindor after a long talk with Professor Snape, Harry realized he had told Dumbledore he would recognize the magic in the diary again. At the time, he believed that completely. Now that he had time to think about it, he wasn't sure where that conviction came from. Maybe he should try a few experiments.

He headed up to his bedroom and closed the curtains. He figured the first step was clearing his mind like he had up in Dumbledore's office. A few moments later, he reached out to see if he sensed anything like he had when he was thinking of the diary. Suddenly the room came alive. He realized immediately that he had to narrow his focus. He focused on the foot of his bed where his trunk was located. He figured there wasn't too much magical in there. Then, he thought of the Marauder's Map and the invisibility cloak and Sirius' mirror (or the pieces of it that he was still holding on to) and the Sneakoscope Ron gave him a few years ago and the candy he bought in Hogmeade, and ... As soon as he thought of them, he could sense most of them. Now, he had to try to differentiate them. He brought up an image of looking at the Map and then tried to find that in the muddle of magic that was his trunk. There it was, on the left, two-thirds of the way down.

But did he know that because he knew where it was or because he was recognizing the magic? He supposed he needed to conduct a few more tests. Harry grabbed the map, invisibility cloak, and Sneakoscope and headed down to the common room.

"Ron, can you help me with a bit of an experiment?"

"Uh, that depends." He looked a bit wary. "What do I have to do?"

"Wait a sec." He grabbed Ron's arm and led him to a corner where Hermione was almost hidden from sight by a pile of dusty tomes. She looked positively blissful. "Hermione? Can I tear you away from your research for a bit?" He smiled at her in a teasing way.

"You know, this is very important research, Harry. Snape asked me to help him find …"

"Yes, 'Mione, I know," Harry interrupted. "I only need your help for a bit, and it's … ah … relevant." She looked more eager now and quickly put down her book after marking her page. Harry perched on the edge of a chair and put down his three magical items. "So, what I want you to do is take this," he brandished the map, "and both of you walk a few steps away. Decide between the two of you which of you is going to carry it and then walk a few steps away from each other. Don't let me know which of you has it, and just wait there for a few minutes."

"So, we just have to stand there with the map — or not?" Ron sounded skeptical. Harry supposed growing up with Fred and George's experiments hadn't really prepared him for such a simple, non-embarrassing request. "What are you going to do to us?"

"Nothing. I just want to see if I can sense which of you has the map."

"Right-o." He turned to Hermione. "Madam?" He bowed low over his extended arm in an exaggerated courtly gesture. Hermione giggled and blushed, but she put her hand in his and let him tuck it into the crook of his elbow and escort her a few feet away. With their backs to Harry, they conducted a conversation that seemed to consist mainly in significant looks and gestures. He supposed they were trying not to let on who had the map by talking. Next, Ron turned to Hermione and bowed while raising her hand to his lips and kissing it. He then spun away and walked a few steps away from her.

By this time, Harry was giggling almost as much as Hermione. "Who put what in your pumpkin juice, Ron?" Ron just raised his eyebrows in a very unconvincing innocent look. "All right. Stop now. I have to concentrate. Can you guys stand there for a few minutes?"

They both nodded and Harry closed his eyes and started to concentrate on his breathing. Since he did this regularly, it was relatively easy to fall into a quiet, meditative mindset. With his eyes still closed, he reached out with what he was starting to call his sense of magic toward where he knew Ron and Hermione were standing. Both had a few items on and around them with magic emanating from them. Taking one person at a time, Harry searched for the familiar feel of the magic of the Marauder's Map. Within a few minutes, he could sense that Hermione had it. He opened his eyes and tried to focus in on it more specifically.

"Hermione, did you stuff it up your sleeve?"

"Blimey, Harry. How'd you do that?"

"That's really impressive. Are you …" She trailed off and then gestured to Ron and they both walked closer to Harry. She continued in a quieter voice. "Are you getting some control of your new power?"

Harry nodded. Ron still looked puzzled so he explained. "I can sort of sense magic, and it all feels a bit different. So, I was trying to see if I could sense the map specifically."

"Cool."

"Do you mind helping out some more?"

"Absolutely, Harry. We're always happy to help."

"OK. I thought I would take it a step further and you guys could take these three things. One of you carries one, the other carries another, and the third is hidden somewhere nearby. I'll turn away and cast a silencing bubble so I won't have a clue what you're doing. We'll see if I can figure out which of you is holding what. For bonus points, I'll see if I can find the third thing."

"How far away can you sense stuff?" Ron had that look on his face like he was cooking up a plan. Not good.

"I really don't know. That's part of the experiment. I figure we should start nearby; and then if you guys are still game, we'll try with more things and further distances."

"Sounds like fun." By now the glint in his eyes was positively frightening.

"Hey, can we start small? I know you have years of older brother torturing to get out of your system, but it's important that I figure out my limits slowly."

"Yeah, yeah."

What followed was more than an hour of ever expanding and changing experiments. They found that Harry's ability to recognize an object was, not surprisingly, best when the object was close and familiar. However, he did pretty well with things far away and familiar. He could follow the feel of his invisibility cloak from a floor away. Anything unfamiliar or with not much inherent magic was difficult close up and impossible far away. Both types of objects tended to disappear into the background buzz of magic that was everywhere at Hogwarts. Hermione thought he would do better someplace that wasn't so inherently magical and wanted to test that hypothesis, but that would have to wait until they could get someplace thoroughly Muggle.

In the meantime, Harry felt better about his ability to locate the diary if he was in its general vicinity, and that was all that mattered to him. However, he didn't explain this to Ron and Hermione. It would be awkward if they realized he was not telling them something important. So, he figured he would just avoid the subject around them completely if he could. Harry hoped Draco would understand when he told him that he couldn't explain why he wanted the diary. Oh well, he supposed he would cross that bridge when he got to it. For now, Harry was going to let it lie. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and Harry and Draco had plans that he wasn't going to ruin with talk of Riddle's diary.

#

_Sorry for the delay since my last post._


	19. Chapter 19

Harry woke up feeling unexpectedly cheerful and took a moment to remember why. Right. Christmas Eve. He checked the time and realized it was probably too early to go down to Draco's rooms just yet. They were going to spend the day together, decorating his room and generally doing Christmas-y things like wrapping gifts and drinking cider in front of the fire. Neither had really good family-oriented Christmas memories, and they were hoping to make up for it a little. Draco had spent the majority of his Christmases doing what was expected of the Malfoy heir at formal affairs given by his parents for all of the people that Lucius was trying to influence. After his performance as good child, he was banished to his room because 'children were to be seen and not heard.' Harry had, of course, spent most of his Christmases watching Dudley open hoards of presents. They had been better since he starting coming to Hogwarts, but even last Christmas with Sirius was tainted with the worry over Mr. Weasley and bitterness over Sirius being taken from him too soon to have really known him.

Harry thoughts came grinding to a halt. That was the first time in a number of weeks that Harry had thought consciously of Sirius. But that wasn't what shocked him. What shocked him was that he had thought 'taken from him.' Unconsciously, Harry must have let go of the guilt over Sirius' death or he would have thought 'getting Sirius killed.' It was a sobering thought that contrarily left him feeling oddly elated. He supposed getting rid of Umbridge's curse had done more than just unlock his magical potential. Harry shook himself out of the deep thoughts and flung off his covers and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

An hour later, Harry decided it was late enough that he could head to the Great Hall for some breakfast. The plan was to meet up there and then head out to the forest to cut down a small tree. Harry had talked Draco into bringing Hagrid along since neither of them were supposed to be off of the grounds without an escort. Harry was pretty sure that Draco had a harder time letting go of his prejudice against Hagrid not because he was a half-giant but because he was afraid of the large man. Contrarily, he was afraid of his size yet disdainful of what he saw as his stupidity. Draco had a long way to go before he would be able to recognize Hagrid's special knowledge and skills as being equal to his own. But Harry still thought that spending time with him outside of class would let him see how harmless Hagrid really was. Plus, Hagrid knew where all of the good Christmas firs were.

When he reached the common room, he realized that Hermione was already awake, so they went down to breakfast together after he peeled her away from her research. Harry was done breakfast before Draco wandered in. Harry beckoned him over and convinced him to eat with Hermione and him since there were very few other people in the Hall. Even some of the children who stayed for the holidays went visiting friends for the time between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.

A few hours later, Draco and Harry were back in Draco's rooms with a Christmas tree set in the corner. It smelled wonderful but looked quite barren. Harry realized that he knew nothing about how to decorate a tree the magical way. Draco, of course, had never done this at all. At Malfoy Manor, the help decorated the trees as well as the Manor itself. Harry could have taken the time to look up the charms that Flitwick and the other teachers used on the Great Hall trees, but he simply hadn't had the time. Unfortunately, that left him with the Dursleys as their only guides, and there was no electricity for lights at Hogwarts.

"Umm," Harry said and looked at Draco with a lost look on his face.

Draco held up his finger in the international symbol for 'wait a sec' and ran to his small bookcase. He came back triumphantly holding a book of household charms. "You didn't really think that I'd leave this up to you? I was pretty sure you wouldn't have the time to do any research even if you did think of it."

"Yeah, yeah." Harry reached out and cuffed Draco on the shoulder before settling down on the couch next to him as they looked up the holiday chapter. Luckily, the charms they decided to use weren't too difficult, and they were both quick studies. The tricky part was agreeing on which ones to use and how the tree was going to look. Draco wanted an ice theme all in blue, silver, and white. Harry was in favor of a less formal, more traditional look. They resulting compromise was not classically beautiful, but they were both content with it.

Of course, it took them _hours._ They had grabbed a quick lunch from the kitchens not long after getting back with the tree, so by the time they finished with the tree and the rest of the room, they were both starving. They headed out for the Great Hall and ran into Ron and Hermione, who seemed to be waiting for them in the Entrance Hall.

"Harry, Draco, where have you guys been?" Hermione looked concerned.

"Decorating in Draco's room. I told you that was what we were doing."

"All this time? How many trees did you do?" Ron was amused.

"Well, neither of us had done it before, so we had to learn all the charms from a book."

"Plus, I had to keep fixing Harry's idea of decorations." Draco shuddered in mock horror.

"Ha, ha." Harry hip-checked Draco lightly. "Shall we eat?" He gestured toward the door. When Ron bowed slightly toward Hermione and held out his arm to lead her through the door, Draco snickered lightly. Harry quickly imitated Ron – with a bit more flourish – and Draco took his arm with exaggerated exclamations of pleasure. Harry was sure the four of them would make quite a picture walking in the door, not least because Ron and Hermione now had the giggles. Of course, he didn't realize how much of an entrance they were going to make considering there were very few other people there for the meal, and they were the last to arrive. Oh well. It was good to be stared at for something harmless and silly for a change.

After they all settled in and food appeared on their plates, Hermione turned to Draco. "Well, I'd like to see this masterpiece that took you two so long to put together. Can we visit for a bit after we're done here?"

"Sure. You're destined for disappointment on the tree though. We couldn't agree on anything, so the resulting compromises are a bit of a mish mash."

"It sounds charming."

Draco turned to Harry. "Is that the kind of charming that people use for drawings from toddlers when they don't know what they are?"

"Mmm, I pretty sure it's very similar." Harry smiled. "Perhaps it's a bit more condescending though because at least the three-year-olds have a good excuse for thinking scribbles are high art."

"So do I! Your sense of taste was a terrible handicap to overcome even marginally." Draco gave another of those mock shudders; this time, Harry slapped him on the shoulder in retaliation. Harry turned to Hermione and Ron, who were watching Draco and him like they were the paid entertainment, and steered the conversation away from the tree by asking about what they had been doing since that morning and then on to what the rest of the Weasleys were doing. This carried them through the meal and part of the way down into the dungeons.

"Where, pray tell, are the four of you heading?" Snape's dry tones came from behind them.

"My room." Draco turned to face his head of house. "Harry and I spent the better part of the day decorating a tree and the rest of the room, and Ron and Hermione decided they wanted to see."

"I see. I trust you will all be quiet enough not to disturb me and get to bed at a reasonable hour?"

Harry let Draco handle Snape and turned to Ron and Hermione. Sotto voice, he asked, "Do we want to get him to come in so we can give him his gift now, or should we wait until tomorrow?"

"I think we should do it now. We can't just leave it for the elves to put in his room. It needs explanation, and we don't know when we'll see him tomorrow." Hermione's eyes twinkled, and Ron nodded in agreement.

Harry turned to Snape and Draco and waited for an opening. When it came, he quickly jumped in. "Sir, we were hoping you could join us briefly." His response was a simple interrogative eyebrow. Harry had a sudden thought of Mr. Spock and repressed a chuckle. "We, um, have something we'd like to give you. Can you spare a minute or two?"

"Certainly."

The rest of the walk was conducted in slightly awkward silence. Harry was pretty sure that Snape hadn't been expecting a gift from his students. The four of them had gotten together one day and planned it. They knew that it wasn't standard practice at Hogwarts, but they had wanted to express their gratitude for all of the extra time Snape had devoted to them this year. When they got to the door, Harry scrambled onto his hands and knees in front of the tree to fetch Snape's gift.

"Oh, Harry, it's lovely." Hermione must have been expecting a Charlie Brown tree after all of their jokes if she thought this one was lovely, but she sounded sincere.

Harry shrugged and mumbled, "Thanks." He turned to Snape and held out the gift. "I know it's a day early, but we'd appreciate it if you opened it now. It's from all of us."

For once, Snape appeared nonplussed. Draco gestured toward one of his chairs, and Snape sat down to open his gift while the others ranged themselves around the room — Draco in the other chair, Harry on the arm of his chair, and Ron and Hermione on the floor. Snape slowly and meticulously unwrapped the paper, opened the box that was revealed, and then peeled back the layers of tissue inside. He looked in the box with a furrow between his eyebrows, and Harry could almost hear everyone hold their breath. He decided that the others seemed to have decided he was in charge here.

"It's mechanical, so it should work fine here." Harry realized that wasn't what he meant to say when Snape still looked puzzled as he pulled out the pocket watch on a long chain. "Well, umm, that's actually just part of your gift. It's sort of symbolic of the other part." Harry took a deep breath and tried to bury his nerves in the calming pool from his meditation exercises. "We realize that you are spending a lot of extra time with us this year — meetings and training and all the rest of it. We wanted to give you some of that time back, so we're going to make the basic potions for the Hospital Wing for this term that you usually have to do. Ron and I can do the prep, and Hermione and Draco can put the potions together so they'll be sure to be right. We, umm, just wanted to let you know that we really appreciate all the extra help you're giving us."

There was a long pause as Snape looked from one person to another, and they all waited for him to respond. Finally, he looked down at the watch in his hand and popped it open. Harry watched him read the inscription on the inside of the cover, "To our professor and mentor, SS. Thanks, HP, DM, HG, and RW." He looked back up and his expression was one Harry didn't think he had seen before on his face — surprised pleasure.

"Thank you all. This is … unexpected and really quite kind of you." He looked back down at the watch, and it looked as if he was trying to figure out what to say.

Surprisingly, Hermione broke the tension by jumping up to her knees and giving Snape a hug. Snape was so shocked by this behavior that he got to his feet after she let him go and tried to retreat. Harry, Draco, and Ron got to their feet and they all exchanged handshakes with their retreating professor. Within minutes, he was out the door with a final admonishment about not making too much noise. The four students all stood in silence where they were when the door closed for a few minutes.

"Well, that was right awkward." Ron finally broke the spell. Harry chuckled, and Draco joined him, then Ron and finally Hermione.

#

About an hour later, they were still sitting around Draco's room. Draco was in the chair he had taken when Snape had been there. Harry was sitting on the floor between his legs with his back against the chair. Hermione was in Ron's lap in the chair that Snape had taken. Hermione and Harry had tried to teach Draco and Ron "Jingle Bells" while Ron tried to teach all three of them a wizarding carol – not "God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs." Ron and Hermione had told stories from Christmases spent with their families when they were kids.

"Merlin, I don't feel like going up all those steps to Gryffindor," Ron groaned into the silence that had fallen after Hermione had made the mistake of asking Draco what he usually did with his parents for Christmas.

"Why don't you stay?" Draco suddenly came awake. "Snape said we had to keep quiet and to go to bed at a reasonable time. He didn't say where."

"I don't think we're supposed to do that."

"Come on, Hermione, who'll care – or even notice?" Ron wheedled.

"Yeah, 'Mione. No one'll even notice. Come on, it'll make you feel good," Harry sung.

"Where would we sleep?"

"Well, you see, there's this thing, called magic, that would allow one to conjure things one needs or transfigure them from other objects." Draco was using his best talking-to-a-small-child voice.

Instead of being offended by his teasing, Hermione just giggled. When she recovered, she asked, "How about clothes and toothbrushes and stuff."

"I'm sure Dobby would be happy to help us out. We can ask him to bring down our presents too. I'd love to be able to open our presents all together. Plus, I want to see Dobby to give him his gift as well." Harry looked at Hermione and when she finally nodded in agreement, he called for the house elf.

Dobby was more than happy to help out 'Mister Harry Potter sir" and his friends and was thrilled with the selection of socks – none of them matching – Harry had gotten him for Christmas. Within 30 minutes, they had transfigured a bed for Ron and Hermione out of the chair they had been sharing. Dobby had snapped some sheets and other bed linens right onto the mattress and brought down their pajamas and toiletries. They took turns using the bathroom and climbed into their beds.

#

The next morning, Harry woke up to feel Draco huddling for warmth against his back. The dungeons were cold, and he was pretty sure they were touching at every possible point. There was a cold nose pressed to the nape of his neck, and Draco's chest was pressed against his back; his groin rubbed against Harry's buttocks, and one of his legs was between both of Harry's. The bottom leg was just lying along the line of Harry's bottom leg, but his toes had grabbed hold of his Achilles tendon. Harry loved it.

With the careful watch Snape kept and Harry trying to follow the rules this year, they didn't get as many opportunities to sleep together as one would suppose seeing as Draco had his own room. Harry snuggled back into Draco, rubbing his buttocks against Draco's hardness. Draco mumbled sleepily, and Harry reached for his wand and cast a quick silencing spell.

#

Harry and Draco emerged about 45 minutes later and discovered that Ron and Hermione were not yet up. Thanking his lucky stars that they had decided to transfigure a standard Hogwarts-style bed – complete with curtains – for them, Harry chose not to think about what they might be doing behind the drawn curtains and heavy silencing charm. Instead, he headed to the bathroom with Draco and hoped they would be out by the time he came back.

Harry and Draco used the bathroom together by taking turns at the various facilities. Both were veterans of communal bathrooms and thought nothing of going about their routines with company. When they came back to the main room, the extra bed had been turned back into a chair. Hermione had convinced Ron not to touch his presents until after they had cycled through the showers, but that didn't stop him from picking through and shaking various wrapped parcels while Hermione took a quick shower. Harry took the opportunity to run to the Great Hall and pick up some food and tea for everyone.

Finally all together, washed and dressed, they divided up the parcels that had gotten put under the tree. "We should take turns opening things so we all have a chance to see what we all got."

"Hermione, that'll take forever," Ron whined. "It's Christmas, not a bloody tea party. Let's just set to it."

"Fine, Ron. I wouldn't want to make you wait a few minutes to find out what you got." Hermione sounded exasperated, but Harry could detect a faint hint of amusement and tenderness in her tone as well. The edge had really come off of their bickering since they started dating. Thank Merlin. Draco and Harry usually just watched them go back and forth for the sheer entertainment value. Harry often felt like he was watching a tennis match. When he expressed this sentiment a few weeks ago, Harry had the very surreal experience of having to explain tennis to the most aristocratic person he knew.

Despite his eagerness, Harry did a lot of watching. He wanted to see everyone's faces when they opened his gifts. He had taken a lot of time on them this year in the hopes of expressing some of his gratitude for all of their help this year so far. As a result, he was the last to finish. By the time he opened up his box of WWW products from the twins, Hermione was reading one of her new books, _Arithmancy Applications in Everyday Life_. Draco had given it to her. On opening it, Hermione had burst into a fit of giggles that were unexplained until Draco opened his present from Hermione to find the exact same book. Harry had also given Hermione books in the form of a book-of-the-month club membership for one year from Flourish and Blotts. She was already wearing the quartz pendant on a simple silver chain that Ron had given to her. The flowers they had been wrapped around were in a vase by her side. Harry could see the faint glow of the stay fresh charm that would keep them looking like new for months thanks to his new powers.

Ron and Draco had their heads bend over Harry's gift to Ron. It was a wizarding chess set charmed for individual play. You could set the side you weren't using to imitate various chess masters throughout the centuries. Each 'player' it could mimic could also be set to play at various skill levels. Harry had also stuck in a flyer he had found for a chess competition that would be held this summer in London. He hoped Ron could convince his parents to let him compete. Draco had given Ron the Wizarding equivalent of gift certificates to Honeyduke's and Madam Puddifoot's. After reading the note that accompanied them, he had hurriedly stashed them away with a grateful smile so that Hermione would be surprised when he treated her to a day in Hogsmeade. Harry was shocked when Ron pulled out Hermione's gift, to see that it wasn't a book but an official Chudley Cannons jersey. Ron had, of course, also gotten a box full of WWW products from the twins while everyone in the room has gotten a Weasley sweater – even Draco. Harry and Ron had also gotten some of Mrs. Weasley's delicious home-cooked food.

Draco's sweater did _not_ include his initial and was made of fine dark green wool with little silver flecks. Harry could see that Draco wasn't sure how to react when he opened it. He had told him the story of getting his first sweater, so he knew what it was as soon as he opened the squashy package. His face was an odd mix of puzzlement, delight, and awe. The look was only reinforced when he opened the practice snitch Ron had gotten him so he could play even though the Slytherin team had kicked him off. Draco wasn't really sure what to do with this strange, extended family he had acquired when he and Harry had started dating openly. Remus had even made a special point to send a greeting to Draco in the holiday card he sent to Harry from wherever secret location the Order had sent him. However, all of those concerns were knocked clear of Draco's head and replaced with simple delight when he opened Harry's gift.

Harry had seen the apothecary cabinet in the Wizarding catalog McGonagall had gotten for him since he couldn't go out to shop for Christmas. It came complete with bottles in various sizes and shapes that already had stay fresh and unbreakable charms. Draco was always pointing out growing things during their walks at the beginning of the year and explaining which would be useful for which potions. Harry knew that the only reason he didn't gather the potential ingredients was because he had no place to store them while he was at Hogwarts. Harry also hoped this small piece of furniture would be something of his own that he wouldn't have to worry about loosing if his father ever escaped Azkhaban and disinherited him. He couldn't wait until he opened the very middle drawer on the sixth level and found the little silver hawk pendant. It was strung on a leather thong and included a locator charm so Harry could find Draco if he were captured and held.

Hermione _had_ run true to form with her gift to Harry, but Harry was delighted with her choice of _Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions_. Ron had surprised Harry by weaseling (no pun intended) his way to a Muggle store for batteries for Harry's Walkman and a T-shirt that was much funnier to Hermione and Harry than Ron intended. It seemed that Ron had seem the shirt, saying "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle," in the window of a store while he was trying to find the batteries. Not understanding the feminist origins of the quote, he had thought it would be perfect for Harry with just a small change. So, he got it home and charmed it to read, "A man without a woman is like a fish without a bicycle." All efforts to explain Hermione's hysterical laughter had gone right over both Ron and Draco's heads.

Draco, who had also been confined to Hogwarts and unable to shop in person for his gifts, had written up an IOU to Harry promising a whole new wardrobe as soon as they were both able to manage a shopping expedition. He had wrapped the parchment for the IOU around a bracelet made to look like two snakes with their tails twined around each other. The mouths of the snakes – which didn't meet at the top, were holding small ruby-colored stones. Harry was amused to feel the same locator charm he had used on the hawk pendant on the bracelet. Harry counted himself lucky that the Dursleys were still trying to pretend he didn't exist and so had not sent him a nasty reminder of their enmity this holiday. However, he was charmed to find a small bone-colored knife from Hagrid. Harry was fairly certain Hagrid had whittled and sharpened it himself, and Harry decided to take the un-subtle hint and start carrying it around with him.

All in all, Harry was fairly certain he had never had a better Christmas morning. Although he was eager for the feast later, he was content for now to enjoy the rare peaceful and uncomplicated few hours left in their morning. He decided to be serious some other time and put aside his book to watch Draco and Ron as they figured out all of the finer points of the charms on Ron's new chess set.

#

Later that day, the feast was over. The food had all been eaten, and the crackers had been pulled. Snape had refused to put on the hat that came from the cracker he pulled with Sprout. Harry was glad to see that some things didn't change. Dumbledore had given his traditional Christmas speech, and the four students headed back down to the dungeons to laze away the rest of the day before they buckled back down to their responsibilities the next day.

#

_A bit longer than my usual chapter but I didn't want to break up all the happy Christmas fluff if I could help it. _


	20. Chapter 20

Harry woke in his bed in Gryffindor tower missing Draco's warmth at this back. After his brain started functioning, he consoled himself with the fact that he would have to see Draco to talk to him about the diary. As usual for a non-school day, Harry was up and done breakfast before Draco wandered in to the Great Hall. Hermione was telling Harry a story about the witch Dumbledore had mentioned and how funny it was that her name was Bess when Harry's attention was attracted by Draco's entrance. Every once in a while, Harry saw Draco all over again for the first time. Hermione had trailed to a stop as she watched Harry's glazed eyes and followed them to their destination.

Harry had snapped out of it and was absentmindedly rubbing at the ache around the region of his heart by the time Draco sat down next to him. He tilted his face up for a 'good morning' kiss and reached for the bacon. Harry knew Draco preferred bacon to sausages, and the platter had worked its way down the table and out of reach. Hermione had tactfully gone back to eating and reading at the same time and just nodded a greeting to Draco while he reached over her for the coffee. The warm ache in Harry's chest started to tighten, and Harry wished they could go back to their homey Christmas selves. Instead, Harry had to ask Draco to let him visit the Manor, a place he had avoided even talking about when possible. He couldn't even tell him the truth about why. When his eyes focused again, he realized he was the focus of two pairs of concerned eyes.

"What?"

"I don't know, Harry, you tell us. You started to breathe funny and rub your chest. I'm fairly certain that you're not having a heart attack, but I find myself wanting to ask you if your left arm hurts." Hermione's tone was matter-of-fact, but it still managed to convey her concern.

"Oh, I was just thinking how I wished it was still Christmas."

"And that made you start to hyperventilate?" Draco's concern was disguised as sarcasm.

"I was hardly hyperventilating. I don't panic easily — slew a basilisk, remember?" Harry forced a light tone into his voice. He certainly didn't want to sit in the Great Hall and dissect his feelings with Hermione and Draco.

"Oh, that was you? I knew you looked familiar." Draco had obviously decided to let Harry get away with pretending nothing was wrong. Hermione looked between them for a moment and then returned her attention to her book with a little shake of her head. Harry almost heard her say, "Boys!" in that exasperated tone.

Harry and Draco settled into comfortable silence as Draco finished his meal. When he was done, they walked out together, and Harry steered Draco toward the Room of Requirement. Draco was smart enough to go along quietly; but once they arrived, he turned to Harry with that icy Malfoy veneer and raised his eyebrows. He knew this couldn't be altogether good, and he was arming himself with distance and disdain.

"Draco, I know you can tell I have something to ask you and that it isn't something for anyone else's ears. So, rather than draw it out, I'm just going to plunge in. Would it be possible for us to visit the Manor sometime over Christmas break?"

"Why?"

"You remember that diary your father gave to Ginny second year? At Draco's nod, Harry continued, "It might be important for defeating Voldemort, and I'm hoping he left it somewhere in the Manor and we can find it."

"Oh." He sounded relieved, and Harry could see some of the tension leave his body. "I suppose we could go at almost any time if you could arrange it with Dumbledore. Mother will be in Switzerland by now, so we won't have to get her permission. Harry, you do realize that the Manor is quite large, and it could take a long time to search for one book with a big hole in the middle of it, right?"

"Yeah, I do. I'm secretly hoping that this new power of mine will cut some of the search time down. I'm hoping to recognize its magic if I'm close enough to it."

"Can you do that?"

"We'll see, won't we?" At Draco's exasperated look, Harry smiled and explained a bit more. "See, Hermione and Ron helped with some experiments the day before yesterday. If I'm familiar with an object, I can find it even when I can't see it; but the less familiar I am with it and/or the farther away it is, the harder it is to distinguish from the background."

"So, you knew you wanted to do this the day before yesterday and you got their help, but you didn't mention it to me until now?" As usual, Draco was too clever for his own good.

"Yes and no. I thought I would like to go to the Manor and realized that it would be a fool's errand if what I supposed weren't true. So, without telling them why, I got Hermione and Ron to practice with some stuff that we had — my cloak and map and stuff. By the time we were done, it was late in the day, and I couldn't go visit you. I had promised you and myself a Voldemort-free Christmas, so I just pushed it to the back of my brain until this morning. OK?"

"Yeah, I suppose that make sense." Draco looked thoughtful for a moment, and then his eyes snapped back into focus. "You know, Potter, you almost distracted me. Why is the diary important if you already killed the memory of teenage Tom Riddle?"

"That's the part I can't tell you yet." He hastened to explain. "Look, you and Ron and Hermione are huge targets. If one of you were captured, you would certainly be tortured before they killed you or used you as bait to get me. If that happens, Dumbledore doesn't want Voldemort using Legilimency and learning all of our plans."

"I guess I really have to start practicing my Occlumency if I expect to be told everything then, hmmm? Do you think Snape would agree to some extra practice sessions?"

Harry could only breathe deeply in relief that Draco's firsthand experience with his father meant that he understood all too well how easily he could be used as a tool in this war. "I don't know, but I could help on that front. It'll only give me more reasons to spend time with you. Eww. Yuck." They both smirked at his fake disgusted noises. "Umm … how about we go and ask him and also see if he can go to the Manor with us. We'll need an adult escort, or Dumbledore won't let me off the grounds."

#

An hour later, Harry was standing in the foyer of Malfoy Manor and wondering if he should add 'efficient' to the list of qualities that Slytherins prized. Draco and Harry had gone to Snape's rooms and explained their separate requests. He had immediately agreed to helping with Draco's Occlumency training and steered both boys up to Dumbledore's office to arrange the trip to the Manor. Both Dumbledore and Snape knew the full story behind his desire to obtain the diary, so he supposed he wasn't surprised at their eagerness — but he still felt a bit out of breath.

He knew he needed calm to start his search, so he closed his eyes and pictured his standard meditation scene — lake, grass, trees, etc. He could feel his heart slowing to his meditative state, and he let himself fall deeper than he normally would. He knew Draco was beside him, and Snape was in front — so he was in no danger even in what would normally have been a hostile environment. Draco had sent the house elf that had appeared to greet them away and told him, quite politely if firmly, to have all of the elves stay out of their way unless they were called.

Harry concentrated on the sound and feel of the soft, warm breeze rustling through the grass and leaves. He felt the blades of grass and the slightly damp earth touching his bare feet. The lake made a soft sloshing sound as it hit the banks, and Harry took a few steps forward in his vision to wade in the cold water. He realized suddenly why this particular meditation worked so well for him at the same time that he realized what it was missing. He adjusted the scene in his head until it was closer to dusk and the air was crisper. Then, he added a campfire merrily burning at his back and warming the chill from the air. Now all four elements were included and interacting with him directly. He felt more completely in the scene than he ever remembered being. Now that he was more completely _real_ in that scene, he felt the ever-present itch on his skin of his new powers. Much like he had when practicing with Ron and Hermione, he concentrated on the itch (while holding onto the meditative scene with a small part of his brain) until it felt less and less like an itch and more like a pull. He thought of his experience in second year with the diary — before he plunged the basilisk tooth into the heart of it — and let it guide the pulling.

Very shortly, he felt certain it was nearby, and he worked hard not to lose his concentration in his elation. Instead, he sharpened his focus and felt his body instinctively following the pull of this other sense of his. He didn't let himself think about doors and walls and stairways but put his trust in Draco and Professor Snape for that aspect. He had discussed what he was hoping to do, and they were more than capable of making sure he came to no physical harm by plunging down a flight of stairs. He concentrated on the feeling and let it guide his steps as close as possible to his target. After some more walking and concentrating, he opened his eyes as he realized he wasn't going to go any further. He wasn't sure if he had lost the connection because he couldn't keep up that level of trance or if he wasn't familiar enough with the feel of the object's magic. Either way, he opened his eyes to a shelf of books in a room full of them.

"Can't see the forest for the trees. Shit." Unfortunately, he wasn't even close enough to a particular shelf to be certain the diary was there. He could be pretty certain it was this wall of books in this room, but that still left a small mountain to overcome. "Accio Tom Riddle's diary," he said in hopes that it would be that easy. Not entirely surprisingly, there was no response from the wall of books he was facing. "Double shit."

"Really, Mr. Potter, it is a very good thing that we are not at Hogwarts, or I would be forced to take points for language. You may not have the book in your hands, but I take from your rather purposeful walk that we have at least narrowed it down to this room. That is quite a head start."

"Actually, I'm fairly certain it's on this wall of books. But, that still leaves an awful lot of books to search through. Plus, he probably has it disguised as something else or hiding in a secret panel or something. We can't just make a quick search of spines. It could take days."

"Yes, but that is much better than the months or years it would take to search this entire house. I suggest we break for a meal. You may not realize it, but you were in that trance for close to two hours. Perhaps you can try to narrow the search further after you have a bit of fuel in you."

Now that Snape mentioned it, he realized he was starving. He took a step towards a nearby chair and almost collapsed, as his legs suddenly felt about as strong as cooked noodles. Luckily, Draco was nearby to grab him and guide him more carefully to the chair. He called for the house elf and ordered a filling but not too heavy lunch of soup and sandwiches, which appeared moments later by the greater graces of house elf magic. They all tucked in, and Harry noticed that Draco looked almost as pale and washed out as Harry felt.

"Well, I'm feeling better. Did I lead you on a merry chase? You look like I died and came back."

Draco jerked a bit but raised his eyes from the soup he was stirring more than eating. "It was kind of eerie. You feel into a really deep trance, and you didn't move at all for a while. I was a bit concerned that you had stopped breathing for a bit. Luckily, Professor Snape stopped me from jerking you out of it."

Harry reached forward and squeezed Draco's arm. "Alive enough for you?" He smirked and then let his hand move up and cup Draco's cheek while he leaned forward and kissed him lightly. "Thanks for being there for me." He smiled at Draco reassuringly until Draco smiled back and dug back into his soup and actually started eating it. "Thanks to you, sir. I don't know that I could have gotten that far if I didn't have such faith in both of your abilities to keep me safe." Snape nodded in acknowledgment of his thanks and went back to his roast beef sandwich without saying anything.

When they were done the meal, Harry stood on much surer legs and let himself remember the feel of the diary in his hands as he carried it around for days before he finally started writing in it. He felt the pull again and was sure it was in front of him. He let his feet be pulled slightly to the left and forward, and he raised his hand in the hopes of getting a more specific direction. It was pulling up above his head, and he realized the reason he couldn't be more specific was because the shelves reached far above his height. He broke his concentration to look for a ladder or whatever means there was for reaching the high shelves but realized his mistake immediately. Lucius Malfoy wouldn't have to resort to a ladder to reach the books on the high shelves when he could call anything down to him with a few simple words.

He turned to Draco and Snape without moving his feet. He didn't want to lose his place. "I _think_ it is in this section of bookcases in one of the four rows that is above my reach. I can't guarantee it, but it's a good place to start. Suggestions?"

"How about we levitate all of the books in that section down here and two of us can start going through them while the other finds a way to investigate the empty shelves," Draco suggested.

"Sounds like a plan. Do you have a better idea, Professor?"

"No, that seems logical to me as well. I will volunteer to look at the shelves while you two sort through the books." With that, he pointed his wand at the relevant section of books, and the books from one shelf neatly pulled out of the bookcase and floated down to the floor. Draco and Harry started to move chairs and tables out of the way to make more room for the books, and Snape moved to the next section. "Try to keep them in the order that we found them in. I am moving them from lowest to highest and placing them from closest to the bookshelves out toward the door. There is no reason to advertise our search in case someone who is familiar with this room should come here."

"Yes, sir." Harry carefully knelt on the floor next to the first row of books and glanced at the spines. He might be sure that the book would have been disguised, but that didn't mean that he might not "see" it through the disguise. Plus, it never paid to ignore the obvious.

On hour later, Harry was dearly wishing it had been more obvious. Two hours later and he was close to despair. He had been sure it was here, but he had lost all certainty as they looked at all of the books thoroughly (using his regular sight and his augmented sight of magic). Nothing seemed to be the book. They had run scans and revealing spells and a few spells Snape taught them while he stood on a levitating footstool doing his own searching. Still they were no closer. It was getting dark, and Harry was starting to wonder if they should expand the search when he was drawn out of his funk by the smell of tea.

After tea, his body felt a bit restored; but no matter what he tried, he couldn't get the sense of the book back. On the other hand, it didn't feel as if he had lost it. Rather, he couldn't get his brain to concentrate in just the right way. He opened his eyes and looked at his two companions.

"Sorry, I just can't get the focus back. I don't get a sense that the book is elsewhere. I just am not getting anything at all."

"I suspect that your magic is a bit exhausted. It may not seem like a lot of work to stand in one place and concentrate, but I suspect it was quite draining nonetheless. I suggest we contact the Headmaster and plan to stay here for the night. We can continue in the morning after we all feel a bit fresher. We can spend the evening far away from this library."

"Are we allowed to stay?" Harry sounded a bit fearful. He wasn't sure what, exactly he was afraid of. It just felt wrong somehow to stay here.

"Well, Mother shouldn't be back until a few days after the new year. I haven't spoken to her, but I'm sure that I have as much right to invite people to visit the Manor as any other living Malfoy." Draco voice had reverted to its sarcastic drawl. Harry suspected he didn't like the thought that Harry was afraid to stay at what he still thought of as his home, and he could certainly hear the fear in Harry's voice. Harry didn't know how to explain to Draco that this didn't feel like Draco's home but rather Lucius' den — as if he were some kind of cartoon villain. The image of Lucius Malfoy creeping about like the Joker from Batman was all it took to make Harry realize that he simply had to try to explain his ridiculous fears to Draco before things became more awkward.

Luckily, Snape was a Slytherin to the core and could recognize tension when he felt it. "I am going back to the foyer to floo the Headmaster to see if he will agree to our extended stay. Don't leave this room."

Harry turned to Draco and enveloped him in a hug. With his face buried in Draco's soft hair, he immediately started to explain. "It's not that I don't want to see your house. I do. I heard so much about your childhood, and I want to see some of the places for myself. It's just that the only parts I've seen were the foyer and this room. Both simply reeked of your father, the public persona. I've spent the past few hours concentrating on the diary, which reminds me of his … his status as my enemy. So, my first thought was that I would be spending the night in enemy territory, and I have no idea what sorts of traps and spells he has put in place to thwart any enemies that enter his territory. It was a bit unnerving. Do you see?"

Harry realized that his voice had gotten rather high and childish through this sudden confession. He would like to blame his tiredness and magical exhaustion on his emotional state, but he really couldn't be sure that was it. Lucius Malfoy, after all, was a very real enemy that he had faced on more than one occasion.

"Oh, Harry." Draco grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away. Harry had continued to hide his face as it made it easier to speak of his fears. Draco forced Harry to look at him, and Harry was sure he could see all of his silly fears in his eyes. He never was very good at hiding his emotions. "I wasn't thinking of it from your perspective. If Dumbledore gives the OK, let me show you the Manor as I see it. It's much better than the formal receiving area or this stuffy and dark library. I kept you safe when you were in the deepest trance I've ever seen. I'll keep you safe for the rest of your stay."

Draco's smile was gentle and reassuring. Harry was glad not to see any harsh judgment or disappointment on his face. He nodded his acceptance and leaned forward for a kiss before Snape rejoined them. They had already kissed once in his presence. He didn't want to try his patience with any unnecessary PDAs. "Thanks, I'd like that." More at peace, they went back to looking at the books that were still on the floor while waiting for Snape to return.

Within moments, Snape was marching briskly (and perhaps a bit loudly) back into the room and announcing that the Headmaster was content to let them stay at the Manor overnight. He would inform Hermione, Ron, and Professor McGonagall of their whereabouts, and Professor Sinistra was more than happy to take on Snape's Head of House duties for one night for the few Slytherins left in the castle over the holidays. Draco immediately jumped up and called for the house elf that he had placed their lunch orders with. He asked him to have someone clean his room and a guest room for Professor Snape, and he requested dinner in another hour in the small dining room. Then, he turned to his guests and suggested a walk outside to clear their heads and stretch their legs after all of their searching.

Both Harry and Snape readily agreed, and they all headed back to the foyer to retrieve their cloaks and other outerwear and head out into the chill December evening. The cold air was bliss after the closeness of the library, and Harry felt his spirits lift instantly. By the time they headed back in for dinner after a tour of the stark but still beautiful winter gardens, Harry was in a much more optimistic frame of mind. He could do this. They would find the book eventually — probably tomorrow. Right now, he settled down to let Draco play the host for an informal and very comfortable supper for three

#


	21. Chapter 21

The dining room was rather large for a 'small' room. The table could have easily sat twelve, and there was more than enough room to maneuver on all sides of it. Despite that, it was surprisingly cozy with only the three of them eating at one side of the table. Harry knew that in other times, there would have been servants behind each seat; but right now, the elf didn't even show up with the food. Rather, the food popped onto the table Hogwarts style, and they continued their silly discussion of formal versus flower versus herb gardens and ate companionably. Harry was fairly certain he saw Snape smile at his crème brûlée when it appeared after the entrees disappeared, but it vanished almost instantly, so he couldn't be 100 percent sure.

After dinner, Draco led Snape to a comfortable study with a crackling fire (not the dark library from earlier) and showed him where the brandy was. Harry and Draco left him with a good book, and Draco gave Harry a tour of the rest of the Manor. They started in the nursery suite. Draco had to explain that it included his room and classroom until he got his Hogwarts letter and moved to the heir suite. This sounded oddly formal to Harry, but he really liked the rooms anyway. The nursery suite had its own room, bathroom, playroom, and classroom. They were all done in soft blues, and each had a fireplace. The bedroom included a ceiling charm like the Great Hall that mirrored the outside sky.

After the nursery, Draco took Harry to a few of his favorite spots — the window seat at the end of the portrait hall, the music room, and the morning room (which he said they should really visit tomorrow morning to see it as it was intended).

Overall, Harry had a much better picture of Draco's childhood by the time they rejoined Snape in the study. Harry sat at Draco's feet while he and Snape set up the chessboard. Part of his mind followed their game. The other was imaging Draco as a small child in this house. Harry could see why he liked his home — he had obviously had plenty of toys and books, and the house itself was beautiful. The rooms that Draco showed Harry didn't have any of that dark energy that so pervaded the library and were much more warm and comfortable than the foyer they had entered through. However, he couldn't help but notice how far away the nursery was from the master's and mistress' suites (in a different wing entirely). He had also noticed the casual mention of the separate suites for Lucius and Narcissa. Draco obviously thought that was normal, and it could easily be in his old circle of friends. Harry's only experiences (the Dursleys and Weasleys) was, obviously, much different.

Harry shook off his maudlin thoughts as a crash from the chessboard alerted him to Draco losing his knight. Its companion gave Draco a dressing down for losing the piece, and Harry couldn't help but laugh at the serious tone coming out in a soft squeak. Draco had explained earlier that some long ago Malfoy had cursed the white pieces to sound like mice after he lost a few too many times. Since Snape had, of course, chosen black, Draco's pieces were hard to take seriously no matter how good their advice was.

By the time they went to bed, Harry was giggling and imitating Draco's bishop as he was taken out of the game. Snape may have been rolling his eyes, but Harry had caught his lips quirking a number of times at their theatrics during the game. Plus, Draco was laughing in that way he rarely did, which meant all of his defenses were down. It was carefree and happy and only made Harry laugh more.

#

The next morning, Harry woke earlier than Draco. He showered and dressed in the clothes that McGonagall had flooed over after dinner the night before. Then, he left a note for Draco and found his way to the morning room to enjoy the winter sun reflecting off the buttery yellow walls and warm woods of his comfortable chair and footstool. He sat back to think about his new insight about his powers.

Obviously, the presence of the four elements in his vision helped him achieve a much deeper trance and control over his sense of magic. He had already started to think that the actual presence of the four elements might be even better. Then Harry had a dream last night that gave him an insight into how to do that wherever he went. In the dream, Harry had been facing an unknown enemy. His wand had been taken away, and he was trying to figure out how to defend himself. His hand had gone up to a pendant that was around his neck, and he had felt a rush of energy and power. As the dream ended before the confrontation began, Harry saw a close-up of the pendant. It was a circle broken into four chambers. One quadrant contained water, another soil, the third looked empty, and the fourth seemed to include some kind of eternally burning fire. He wasn't sure what the trick of that was, but he knew he had to make himself that pendant as soon as he could manage it.

It could save his life.

#

After breakfast, Harry stood in the library and tried to regain the level of trance that he had achieved yesterday morning. The next he was aware, he was coming awake with a hand around a book that he was sure he had looked at two or three times yesterday afternoon. Despite that, he was sure he now held the diary in his hand.

"This is it."

"You're certain, Mr. Potter?"

"Yes, sir. I know the spells we cast on it yesterday didn't reveal it, but I'm sure. Could Lucius have used a spell that would only be undone with a very specific counter spell?"

"It is what I would do if I wanted to hide something in plain sight. I have some books in my private library that might be useful in breaking it."

"Right then, let's get back to the castle and start some research." Draco looked calm and happy. Harry was glad Draco was ready to go back to Hogwarts and hadn't wanted to stay for a longer visit to his childhood home. He simply couldn't shake the feeling that a longer visit might put their errand in danger of being found out.

#

When they got back to Hogwarts, Snape took possession of the book and told Draco and Harry he would report in to the Headmaster and give him the book for safekeeping. Harry and Draco headed to Gryffindor to let Ron and Hermione know they were back. Luckily, they had all decided on a cover story before leaving for the Manor, and Harry didn't have to worry about coming up with one since his brain was still feeling a bit muddled from the effort this morning.

"Hey, guys!" Ron called to them as soon as they climbed through the portrait. He and Hermione were the only ones in the common room. "Get your business all sorted, Malfoy?"

"Yeah, it took a little longer than I expected, but it's all sorted now." Snape, Harry, and Draco had decided that the less Ron and Hermione knew the better. They didn't want to leave a trail that someone else could follow to the fact that they were going to the Malfoy's to find an important artifact or something important to the war. Instead, they had decided on the vague "family business" and were counting on Ron and Hermione's politeness in not asking for further details.

"So, what's the Manor like, Harry?"

"Well, Draco would be better to ask that, don't you think?"

"Nah, he's seen it so much, he takes it for granted. Tell me what you saw."

Harry had to admit that Ron had a point. Hermione put down her book and waited expectantly, and even Draco looked mildly intrigued. He probably wanted to hear what Harry's impressions were. So, for the next 15 minutes, Harry described what he had seen of Malfoy Manor while sitting curled against Draco's side. His brain was still feeling a bit muddled, but being forced to focus on his memory of the Manor and describe it clearly actually helped to pull it back to functioning order.

"Well, enough from me. What have you guys been doing the last few days?"

"I've been planning some Quidditch strategies for the spring. Hermione, of course, has been reading great, heavy, dusty tomes. I don't know that she would even come up for food and rest if I didn't remind her."

"So, about usual?" Harry smirked at Ron's description while Hermione huffed in mock indignation.

"Exactly." Now Hermione was swinging a throw pillow at Ron's head, and he was laughing and ducking. Gosh, it was good to be home.

To mollify Hermione, Harry turned to her. "Find out anything new and interesting about Harry Potter, the walking anomaly?"

"Actually, I did. Did you know, Harry, that you could do certain magic without spells?" At Harry interrogative look, she continued, "As you know, you can see or sense magic in a way most wizards don't. Because of that, you could possibly see certain spells and manipulate them or undo them. There is speculation that some of the best curse breakers have a marginal sensitivity to the types of things you see, and that gives them a greater instinct for figuring out which curses are on things. Then, they use their extensive knowledge to undo it. You should be able to undo a curse without knowing exactly what it is, just by manipulating what you see in the magic."

"Cool!" Ron sounded impressed.

Harry had to admit that he was as well. Mostly, he was trying to keep calm because he immediately thought of the spell on the diary and started to wonder if he could skip the research phase. After all, they couldn't bring their most brilliant researcher in on this one, and Harry was basically pants at finding things in books when he didn't know exactly what he was looking for.

"You said 'certain kinds of spells.' Like what?"

"Well, obviously, you would be especially good at anything having to do with manipulating the four elements. But, honestly, the person who wrote the book I got it from was hearing it third-hand. He knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who was an elemental. All of the books are like that because most elementals try to keep it pretty quiet. So, it could be almost anything. I think it's another one of those things that will just take some experimentation to figure out where your limits are."

"Yeah, we'll have to think of something. Ron, do you think you could contact Bill and ask him to stop by sometime during the holidays while he's in the country? That way, if I experiment and it goes wrong, we can have a trained curse breaker to back me up and minimize any damage."

"Sure. That'd be great. I've been wishing I had a chance to see him anyway. He's only going to be in England for a week around New Year's, but I'll see if he can squeeze us in when he gets here."

"Let me check with the Headmaster first to make sure it's ok he knows as much as we would have to explain to him. Anything else of interest in those dusty tomes?" Harry smirked at Hermione.

"Well, there was something in one of the older books, but the language was really obscure. In any case, it led me to believe that you would be stronger when you were surrounded by the elements in as raw a form as possible."

"Well, _that_ I had kind of guessed recently." Harry realized he couldn't explain about his meditations at the Manor, so he decided to fall back on a bit of vagueness. "Sometime recently, I realized I got a deeper, more effective meditation exercise if I included representations of all of the four elements in the picture in my head. Plus, I had a dream last night that I think was a bit more than a regular dream."

"You didn't tell me about a dream. Have you been holding back on me, Potter?" Draco didn't sound genuinely upset, but Harry knew he needed to explain a little anyway.

"Well, I woke up pretty early. By the time you got up, you had that business to handle. So, I figured we could talk about it later, and then I forgot." Draco was not Slytherin for nothing and understood the hidden messages and dropped the issue.

"So, what happened in the dream?" Hermione, as usual, was all business.

"I was in some sort of battle situation. I had lost my wand, my enemy had the upper hand, and I couldn't figure out what to do. Then, I put my hand on this pendant around my neck and felt this surge of power. I just knew I would be OK."

"So what was in the pendant?" Hermione sounded way too excited for such a simple story; she was close to breathless.

"It had four quadrants, and each one had an element in it."

"How could…?"

"Hermione, give me a minute to explain. So. One quadrant had dirt in it – earth. Another had a bit of water; that one's obvious. One looked empty, so I guess that would be air. The last was fire, but I really don't know how to make a tiny little eternal fire to enclose in a pendant."

"Oh, I can show you how. That part is easy. The pendant, though, that's brilliant, Harry. You'll always have all four elements with you. You can tap into that power if you need to anywhere. That's great!"

"Yeah, mate, that's one hell of a dream. You getting help from some higher power now – sending you dreams?"

"I honestly don't know where the dreams are coming from."

"Dreams?" Draco looked concerned as he emphasized the 'S.'

"Yeah, I had a dream right before Christmas that got me practicing with locating certain types of magic even when I couldn't see the objects." Harry looked at Draco significantly.

"Hmmm. That sounds interesting. Any luck?"

"Luck! Malfoy, it was brilliant. Too bad you weren't there. Harry found me wearing his cloak after figuring out where I was hiding from a floor away." Ron enthusiastically started telling Draco something he had already heard from Harry. Harry consoled himself with the thought of his plans not getting out to the wrong person. Plus, Draco hadn't heard it from Ron's perspective or in nearly this much detail. Harry made a mental note to ask Hermione to show him the relevant sections of the books she had just mentioned and settled down to listen to Ron for a bit.

#

Harry was feeling much more refreshed the next day. He had gone to bed early – pretty much right after supper and woken feeling bright and happy and like he had a _plan_. Despite the sneaking suspicion he was turning into Hermione, he gave into the driving urge to write it down and work out some of the finer points. He knew that the germ was swimming around in his head, but it had been impossible to work out the details while he was busy talking to his friends yesterday.

Talk to Dumbledore and Snape about search at Manor and new insight into powers and link to elementals provided by meditation. Key to control of new powers?

Tell them about dream and plans to make pendant.

Ask Hermione to help on research to make glass and have her show me fire spell. There must be a fast wizarding way to make glass from sand. If I can make my own pendant, it will only be more powerful. Plus I can make it exactly as I want.

Elements in their natural quadrants: North earth; South fire; West water; East Air. Include appropriate colors or stones?

In the margins was a small drawing looking something like a pie. Rather than cutting the circle with a cross with the lines pointing directly N, S, E, and W, he had bisected it with an X so the quadrants it created were nestled firmly in the appropriate directions.

Tell them about Hermione's research (both pieces) and suggest bringing Bill to castle for some hands-on curse breaking. Maybe he could bring a few relatively harmless objects and/or Snape could curse a few things to act as test subjects.

If that works, try other basic magic without incantations – Leviosa, simple transfiguration, and any other suggestions.

If any success, try to break charm or whatever on diary.

Try to get diary to show way to other objects of importance.

He wasn't planning on holding on to the note for long, but it still was a good idea to be careful about certain details.

If that works, track them down, store them until we figure out how to destroy them. If not, track down two Dumbledore thinks he knows location of, store, then destroy. Convince Dumbledore that any expeditions to find objects should include all three of us (Dumbledore, Snape, and myself). The more heads to figure out possible curses the better.

Continue looking for Peter. If captured, interrogate about objects – what they are and where they are stored.

Harry looked with satisfaction at his list. It felt good to write some of it down. It felt good to have a handle on a few things again. He thought it might be good to hold on to the list for a bit. It might help keep him on point while talking to Dumbledore and Snape. He'd have to code it or ward it somehow in case anyone else got hold of it before he had a chance to destroy it. That was easy enough to do though, he thought, as he pulled out his wand, especially with a bit of elemental power at your beck and call. No one would be reading this note.

#

He made an appointment to speak with Dumbledore when he saw him at breakfast. He and Snape were to meet in the Headmaster's office in a few hours. That worked perfectly for Harry as it gave him time to review the relevant sections of Hermione's books as well as get a few books from the library on glassmaking.

The references in Hermione's books didn't provide much more information than Hermione had in her summary. Still, it was good to read it firsthand just in case something came up in the future. With a little help from Hermione, who knew the library backwards and forwards, he found some books that should help him in making the pendant and he even had a chance to practice the nifty portable, water-proof, fire spell that Hermione had used back in second year to set a fire up in the Myrtle's bathroom when they needed to make Polyjuice. The trick would be making sure there was a hole in that quadrant so the fire continued to have oxygen to burn. Harry was really unsure how he was going to keep the contents of the different quadrants separate from each other. But that was a problem for another day.

He quickly lost track of time while practicing the charm and had to jog up to the Headmaster's office for his appointment. The good news was that he made it on time. It was bad form to show up late to an appointment you had requested after all. The next set of good news was that both the Headmaster and Professor Snape felt his plan was a good one. Dumbledore decided to disguise Bill's visit by having the entire Weasley clan come for a visit. Harry and Bill could slip out of the family gathering for a bit and meet up with Snape in his dungeons.

"After all," he said with a twinkle, "Ron has missed spending Christmas with his family. The least we can do is facilitate their desire to be together for New Year's." He promised he would be able to communicate securely with Bill and explain their needs.

In addition, both were very impressed with the pendant idea. Snape, in fact, thought he should make more than one. He also recommended Harry spend as much time as he could spare practicing using his powers. He was of the opinion that more practice might make the process of falling into a trance unnecessary – or at least not as time consuming.

Harry spent the next few days either working out how to put together his pendant (pendants?) and practicing his magic-sight, as they had started calling it. He now had a marginal awareness of his surroundings and had cut the time it took to activate it to just two minutes. He was sure more practice would only improve both of these aspects.

He had, indeed, found a way to make glass directly from sand, but first he had to purify the sand or else the resulting glass wouldn't be very stable (or attractive). The beauty of the wizarding method was that he could instantly make it into the exact shape that he desired and it was as durable as Pyrex. After much discussion of methods of getting the elements inserted into an already completed pie shape that always ended up with water oozing out of the hole used to fill that quadrant and no ideas of how to insert fire into a tiny hole, they decided to try something else. He would start by making a open ended pie, insert the objects and then make a top and instantly seal it to the bottom half with the heat necessary to melt the sand into glass. After all, if it didn't work out, he could try again. There was tons of sand down by the lake and it only took a few hours to purify it. He was planning on purifying enough for a few pendants the first time. Either he would need it all to try making one a few different times until he got it right, or he'd use the excess to make a few extra pendants.

#

_Sorry for the delay between chapters._


	22. Chapter 22

The Weasleys had arrived midway between breakfast and lunch on the 31st. The note Ron got from his mother included a line about making sure that "Malfoy boy" was aware that he was invited to join them for the day and the party that evening. So, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco all were waiting in the Great Hall when clan Weasley descended upon Hogwarts. Ginny had gone home for the holidays, so she arrived with the rest of the Weasleys, and Harry was surprised to see everyone except Percy was in the party.

Mrs. Weasley bustled in and hugged Ron and fussed over his hair and robes and then gave the same treatment to Hermione and Harry respectively. Once she released Harry and finished tutting over his weight, Harry got a chance to get a word in edgewise.

"Mrs Weasely, Mr. Weasley, I don't think you have been formally introduced. This is Draco Malfoy. Draco, these are Ron's parents, Arthur and Molly Weasley." As their attention shifted to Draco, Harry felt the tension rise in the room.

"I'm very pleased to meet you both, and I wanted to thank you especially for including me in your family get-together. I really appreciate it."

Harry could see some of the tension and suspicion go out of both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's faces at the evident sincerity in Draco's voice. Harry felt a bit of the tension that he had harbored since Dumbledore suggested bringing the whole clan up to Hogwarts release. Ever since the news of their relationship had slipped out from Hogwarts' insular community and into every wizarding paper and periodical, Harry had been worried about their reaction to his relationship with a Malfoy.

"Draco, you know Ginny, Fred, and George of course. But, you haven't met my older boys. Percy couldn't join us since he's working. Bill is our oldest; he's the reprobate with the long hair. You may remember his fiancé, Fleur Delacour, from the TriWizard Tournament. Charlie is our second son; he's the one in the dragonhide trousers."

Draco's response and the ensuing exchange of small talk receded into the background for Harry who became aware of the uncommon looks of solemnity on Fred and George's faces. They were standing behind the general group and were watching Draco very closely. Harry was especially concerned about their reaction. They had heard the rumors of his relationship before it hit the papers since they still socialized with people who had siblings in school. They had sent a short but succinct letter asking if it was really true that he was shagging the ferret, and was he sure he wasn't under any kind of spell of any kind. Ron had gotten a similar letter at the same time.

At the time, Harry was so taken by surprise that he didn't respond for a few days. He had finally sent them a short missive explaining that people change and asking them to give Draco a chance before hexing him when next they met. Harry really hadn't wanted to commit too much to such an insecure method of communication and didn't have the means to see them in person until now. He could only hope they weren't plotting something truly nefarious.

Part of Harry's brain was registering the polite chuckles coming from Draco, Bill, and Charlie after Fleur had made a particularly bad Draco/dragon pun – something about Charlie being quite good at handling dragons, but she supposed Harry's handling of the Hungarian Horntail during the tournament indicated he was up to the challenge of handing Draco. Harry was sure that Draco had heard these kinds of puns his whole life, but it was good of the three of them to humor Fleur. The other part of Harry's brain was coming to the realization that he had to stop watching Fred and George before they realized they were being watched.

He turned to Ron and made a significant eye roll in the twin's direction. "Think I should be concerned?"

Ron looked over at his brothers for a moment. "Not sure. They don't have that look they get when they're cooking up mischief. But, they're too quiet. That's not usually a good sign." He paused for a moment and then turned to Harry. "The three of us will keep an eye on them and try to head off anything too hideous heading in Draco's direction. Alright?"

"Thanks, mate." At Ron's nod of acknowledgment, he tuned back in to the conversation with Draco and Ron's older brothers. He planned to stay close to Draco until he had to meet up with Bill later.

Harry spent a few hours chatting with his surrogate family. They had lunch in the Great Hall. The twins had eventually loosened up and gone back to their more normal, almost clownish behavior. Harry relaxed even more but didn't relax his watch completely. After lunch, they split up and agreed to meet for a late supper/celebration that would last until after midnight in one of the suites set aside for overnight guests. As prearranged, Hermione convinced Ginny and Fleur to spend some quality 'girl time' with her. This left Bill free to explore his old school and maybe meet with a few of his former teachers. Harry had a sneaking suspicion he was going to show an overwhelming interest in Snape.

Harry went up to the Tower with Ron, the twins, and Charlie. He spent a little while laughing and talking and then regretfully excused himself to get some extra training exercises done. He went to his room and retrieved a bag containing his Invisibility Cloak and a few other items and then left. The older Weasleys hadn't been around to see him leaving for training with Snape or Dumbledore at various times all year, but it still worked as sufficient cover.

All of this cloak and dagger business felt like overkill, but sometimes even well-meaning people let slip salient points to the wrong people. They didn't want anyone's recounting of their holidays to include the fact that Bill and Harry were ensconced in the dungeons with Snape on some secret training. If that small detail got passed on to Voldemort, it wasn't too many steps from curse-breaking to breaking the curses put on his Horcruxes to protect them. The last thing they needed was for Voldemort to start checking on and moving them. Worse yet, he could make more. Seven seemed like too many pieces to Harry, but you never knew the lengths old snake face was willing to go to in the search for immortality.

By the time he had gone to the training room he and Snape used to use and then put the Invisibility Cloak on and quietly worked his way down to the dungeons, Bill was there chatting with Snape. Harry could sense a certain amount of tension between them but couldn't be sure what the source was. He was fairly certain Bill had been taught by Snape, but he wasn't sure what their relationship was like now. Hopefully there wasn't too much animosity to overcome.

"Ah, Harry, shall we get started, then?" Bill sounded distractingly like a mix of Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley. He really didn't know what he'd do if Bill started calling him 'my boy.'

"Sure. I really appreciate your help, Bill. I don't really know much about cursed objects, so you might have to start with some basics." Harry felt, more than saw, Snape's eyebrow going up. He supposed he was understating it to say he didn't know much but he didn't want Bill to make any assumptions and skip over vital bits. Harry had some experience with cursed objects (the diary and Umbridge's blood quill being two outstanding examples), but Harry felt he was missing the basics.

"The real trick to breaking curses is recognizing a cursed object before the spell has a chance to get you. Once you recognize a cursed object, diagnosing it and uncursing it with a variety of spells is just a matter of your knowledge base and your ability to piece together a puzzle when you are working with an unknown curse. But, I thought we would start with recognition."

He gestured to a motley collection of objects he had arrayed on the various student desks in the potions classroom. Some were ordinary (a boot, a piece of parchment) and others were more exotic (a golden goblet, a very strange looking hat) and everything in between. In all there were 10 items. Harry was finding it hard to resist the urge to activate his magic-sight, but he didn't want to miss anything the Bill said.

"Sometimes, you are in situations where you will know which types of objects could be cursed. Perhaps someone left notes or someone asked you to look for a certain object. Other times, you don't. Therefore, most curse-breakers end up developing a certain instinct for which object not to touch without further study. I don't really expect you to develop those instincts in one short session, but I thought I would give you a quick primer. First off, before I say anything more, is there anything that jumps out at you about these items?" For example, is there any one item you would assume was deadly?"

Harry quickly activated his magic-sight and glanced at all of the objects. He was surprised to find that the golden goblet had not aura of magic at all. "Well, I don't know about which are deadly, but I'm fairly certain that goblet is safe."

Harry was also fairly certain that he had heard Snape make a noise that only very few would recognize as a snort of laughter. Bill just looked a bit nonplussed. They had agreed not to tell him anything about Harry's special abilities ahead of time. Dumbledore would deal with anything they had to tell him or that he figured out and swearing him to secrecy afterwards.

"Why do you say that?"

Harry looked at Snape for guidance on how to answer that question, but his face was impassive. "How about I save my answer for a little later?"

"Alright-y. We'll just skip over that for right now. Suffice it to say that ordinary objects can be deadly and valuable and exotic objects can be harmless. In fact, the most deadly object in this room is that boot. It's got a strange combination of curses on it I haven't managed to completely unravel. Since most are interwoven in such a way that they work as booby traps should you try to get rid of one curse, I simply isolated it. If an unsuspecting person were to put the boot on, the foot would shrivel up and die in a slow and painful way, and then it would start on the rest of the body – a truly gruesome death that would cause approximately a month of unremitting pain."

"Eurgh."

"Exactly. Now, let's get on with the rest."

Bill quickly went over basic wizarding ways of sensing magic. They were all less definitive than Harry's magic-sight and only worked for someone with a fair amount of magic at their control. But they allowed an ordinary curse-breaker to 'feel' something right or wrong about an object – hopefully before they set off any curses. Mostly, it came down to feeling if an object had a strong or weak aura of magic and whether that aura felt benign or harmful. As Bill had explained, it was more of an instinct that one developed than a hard-and-fast set of spells. If a truly ordinary object had a strong aura, that was usually enough to inspire caution. Some objects would be expected to be heavily charmed, so that was why it became necessary to feel the level of harmfulness. Harry was fairly certain that most of this would be unnecessary for him, but the primer on what to look for and the first-hand observation of Bill being so cautious around the objects was a good lesson in any case.

Then, they moved on to some diagnostic spells and ways to handle or move things without setting off the spells involved, as well as ways to contain the items from accidental handling (and setting off). All of these things would come in handy with the Horcruxes, and Harry could tell Snape was paying particular attention as well. Harry was glad he would have more than just his own notes to rely on when it came to using these spells. Lastly, he went over some common counter-curses. He glossed over most of the details while handing a book to Harry that he said would be more useful if he needed particulars. They, frankly, didn't have much time, and curse-breaking wasn't something one learned in an afternoon.

"OK. We still have about two hours before anyone would be likely to be looking for us. Now, why don't you tell me a little more about how you knew that goblet was harmless and what it has to do with you bringing me here?"

Snape and Harry looked at each other and held a condensed version of a convoluted conversation with eyes and expressions. Harry never ceased to be amazed by how far along their relationship had progressed. Finally, Snape gave an infinitesimal nod, and Harry turned back to Bill. Better to tell him all than give him partial information and leave him curious enough to undertake dangerous-to-Harry investigations.

"I'm an elemental." Harry didn't pause to give him time to swallow that large piece of news. "So, I am learning to 'see' magic, and it didn't have any magical aura that I could detect in my initial scan."

Bill stood a bit too still and stared a bit too fixedly at Harry's face. Then, much to Harry's relief, he shook himself free and returned to almost-normal. "Well, I can see why all the secrecy. We certainly don't want anyone to get wind of _that_." He paused again and looked vaguely at his collection of cursed objects. "But if you can see the magic, why'd you let me go through all that stuff I did? I'm sure you can tell better than I what things are cursed with."

"Actually, I'm still learning, so there's a lot that I don't know how to interpret. The more mundane diagnostic and handling spells will still come in handy." Harry's sincere smile seemed to erase any lingering feelings of being ill-used. "In addition to all you told me so far and this handbook – that's much more useful than anything I could find here – I was hoping you could watch over me while I experimented with changing the curses on things in a more unorthodox manner. I figure you might stop me from making too big of a mess."

"Sure, Harry. Whatever I can do to help. I will say that if you are unsure of what you're doing and you're planning on playing around with those curses, we should probably start with the less dangerous stuff, like that parchment." He pointed and then turned to Snape. "Also, we might want to ward off the potions storeroom and anything else potentially volatile in this classroom."

Snape nodded and moved a few objects off of his desk and a cauldron in the corner into the potions storeroom. Then, he put a few spells up to protect the most volatile ingredients and more on the whole room. Next, he stepped back and allowed Bill to put up a few of his own. Lastly, they closed the door and warded the room from the outside as well.

"Right. Now, what exactly are you planning?"

"Honestly, I haven't planned it out in detail." Harry ignored Snape's snort. "I know that I can see the magic and that different things 'look' different. So, if I'm familiar with the magic of an object, I can find it again even if I can't physically see it. But, I haven't tried to manipulate magic in any way because I didn't know what the possible consequences would be. But, I think that in theory, I should be able to – essentially – uncurse something without using standard spells."

"Ohh-kay." Bill sounded as unsure as Harry felt.

"First, I'm going to get to the point where I can see the magic, then I'll let you know what I am planning on trying before I do anything." With that, Harry fell into the level of trance that he had worked on for the past few days. He could, on a limited basis, communicate while holding onto this trance state. Hermione and Ron said he still looked and sounded "funny" though, so Harry figured he had more practice to do. In the meantime, the world around Harry was coming alive with colors and textures that were hidden a moment ago.

With his new sight, he spent some time looking at all of the objects and trying to determine if he could differentiate between the different curses – or at least get a feeling for the danger level. He was disappointed to find that he could not immediately tell which objects were more dangerous. However, he could tell which objects had been heavily bespelled. With that in mind, he spoke, "Well, I still say that goblet is harmless. This parchment and that, that, and that all seem to have only a few layers of spells on them and one or two of them might be harmless stuff that we actually want to keep on them. The boot is so obscured by magic, I almost can't see the boot itself. Unfortunately, none of those layers reeks inherently of danger as I was hoping they would." He spent a few more minutes looking at the parchment. The more he looked, the more convinced he was that what he needed to do was detach the topmost layer. It seemed to be holding on to the other magical layers inside it in only a few places. But, the question was: what would happen to the curse once he cut it loose?

"I think I can isolate the curse on this parchment, and it looks easy to detach from the rest. But, I don't know what damage a free-floating curse could do."

"Don't do it." Bill sounded stern. "You mentioned that what you were looking at seemed like it would be easy to detach?"

"Mmm." Harry had to hope the mumble was taken for assent. Talking was difficult sometimes in this state. That couple of sentences had really messed with his trance-state, so he was busy trying to find it again.

"That's probably the spell I put on it for transport. I didn't want anything going off on the way here. I'll undo this one, but be careful not to touch the parchment after that."

Now that he mentioned it, Harry could see that many of the objects had similar hanging-by-a-thread layers at the very top. He watched the thin layer on the parchment detach and evaporate into nothingness as Bill gestured with his wand. Now, he could see things more clearly. The currently top layer moved about like a grey cloud of smoke. Harry held out his hand and realized the temperature a few inches above the grey cloud was cooler than the surrounding room. The more time he spent inspecting it, the more malevolent it looked. His instincts were screaming at him to reach out and just tweak it a bit. He felt sure he could change the cloud to a clearer color and then dissipate it harmlessly, but he held back. Instead, he came up from his trance enough to explain what he wanted to do and realized that he couldn't really explain what he meant by 'tweak it a bit' to either Bill or Snape's satisfaction.

After much discussion, which totally ruined Harry's trance-state, they decided to chance it with Snape and Bill watching closely behind wards for any unexpected side-affects. Bill had explained that the actual curse was relatively harmless: compelling anyone who handled the parchment to write his deepest secrets on it and mail it to the person who had placed the curse. Only a die-hard blackmailer would expect his victims to come to him. However, they had no idea what Harry's tweaking could do to it. He could, conceivably, make it more dangerous. Plus, none of them wanted to see any of their secrets leave that room.

Nonetheless, Harry sunk back into trance and let his instincts guide him. He did reach out with his hand but kept it a few inches from the swirling grey cloud. Then, he pictured what he wanted the next stage to look like – fluffy and harmless like the cottony clouds of high summer – and sort of pushed with his magic. Harry felt a breeze across his hands and watched as the grey swirling clouds puffed up and lost their color. Soon, it had all gathered into one glowingly white cloud that hovered over the top corner of the parchment. Again, a little push with his magic and a light breeze and that final cloud disappeared. Harry blinked as he came up from his trance and realized that he felt rather like he had performed a really perfect dive on his broom – flushed and euphoric and yet pleasantly relaxed at the same time.

"I think it's gone."

Bill performed a couple of spells and then a couple more and reluctantly had to admit that it seemed to be gone as well. Harry explained what he had seen and done and both adults looked intrigued as well as slightly unnerved. However, they both agreed that nothing untoward had happened and allowed him to try again on the next-most-harmless object.

At the end of the first hour Bill had given them, Harry had harmlessly defused five of the objects in the room. There was a moment while he was working on the tall wizard's hat where something had almost gotten free of his control, but he quickly fixed it before Bill could even react. Harry really wanted a crack at the boot and was trying to convince Bill to take the protective layer off of it. Harry didn't think he could fix it, but he thought studying it might proof useful.

"You know, if you don't take it off yourself, I'm sure I can do it without you." Bill looked a bit surprised at the threat. Harry smiled winningly to lessen the blow. "I won't do anything yet. I just want to get a good look at it, and that stuff you put on it really obscures all the spells underneath it." He realized he was starting to talk of spells as if they were substantial, visible things and could only excuse it with the realization that to him they were.

"All right, I'll take off the protection spell. But, I don't want you tweaking anything without talking to me first."

The protective layers of spells were that much thicker over the boot. Bill knew it was dangerous and many-layered, so his protective spells had to be complex to compensate. When he was done, Harry almost gasped as the brightness of the spells on the object shone without barriers. There were many bright colors and other more muted ones. Harry had quickly learned that color wasn't a very good indicator of good or bad after the lovely royal blue aura on a glass bowl was explained as a curse to make anyone eating out of the bowl slowly starve to death. However, he had found that muted colors tended to be weaker spells. In addition, he found the movements and interactions between the layers to be fascinating and the most useful when he was trying to dissipate them. The more movement there was, the easier it was to move them in the direction Harry wanted them to go. The more solid, brighter, static layers of spells were the hardest to dissipate, as their own inertia couldn't be used against them. With this object, he could see how many of the layers were intertwined with each other. That, he supposed, was what Bill meant by booby traps. Altering one layer would only set off the one below it.

Harry shook himself out of the trance and explained all he was seeing. Bill nodded as Harry's explanation confirmed what he had diagnosed with more standard spells. He explained that he hadn't figured out what each curse could do but instead realized how thick the layer of traps was and simply isolated it for safely and further study.

"But, there is one layer all the way on the bottom. I'm fairly certain that if you had the right key, you could trip that and it would disarm all the others."

"How can you tell?"

"I'm honestly not certain. There is a thread of it in each of the other layers but it's just a small thread. And, it's on the bottom. So, you would be most likely to find it last so there's no reason why it would be another trap. If you ever got to that layer, you would have already disarmed the others. Also, based on the texture of it, it's really solid and isn't going anywhere without some hard work _or_ a special spell keyed in so the maker could take if off if need be. It just doesn't make sense to do all that work and not have a failsafe should you find yourself needing it."

"Makes sense. I've definitely seen multi-layered spells that could be undone by the maker relatively easily. There's a possibility it is blood-protected since that is really hard to beat by anyone other than the one keyed into the spell."

Harry looked at it again and found that he was more and more sure of his diagnosis and thought that Bill's idea of blood protection had definite merit. "Yeah, it might be blood. That layer is really solid but looks weirdly porous liked the maker wanted it to easily absorb a liquid."

"It could also be a potion." Harry had almost forgotten that Snape was in the room. He hadn't spoken since Harry had defused the parchment. However, his magic-sight meant that he was never completely unaware of anything magical in his immediate vicinity so he hadn't jumped like Bill did when Snape offered his opinion.

"Yeah, that could work as well. Of course, you would have to know which potion to use. I assume there are a number the person who set this up could have used, so it's almost as unbreakable as blood."

"Well, I believe that we have shown that Harry can manipulate the magic without having all of the specialized knowledge necessary for curse-breaking in the traditional sense. I believe that was the purpose of this visit – right?" Harry nodded at Snape. "So, I suggest we start putting some of this away and settle down with some tea. I know that you will both be joining the rest of the Weasleys for a large meal a little later, but I think Mr. Potter could use some fuel — and we could all use some time to decompress. The last thing we want is someone guessing we've been up to anything because you, Mr. Weasley, still look strung tight enough to break after watching Mr. Potter almost kill himself about 10 times over the past hour."

Within 15 minutes, they had all of Bill's objects packed away safely and ready to be transported to the safe room at Gringott's they had come from. He attached a portkey to the packet, and the whole lot winked out of existence and back to their rightful place. By this time, the house elves had delivered a substantial tea, and Harry found he was famished. Apparently, this kind of magic was especially draining. Harry only hoped practice would lessen the need for a feast after any substantial use of it.

#

_Another chapter! Are you still enjoying my story or have I gone off the deep end? Review and let me know._ _I'm heading to London for a week tomorrow so I won't get to respond right away. _


	23. Chapter 23

Harry had gone back to his common room while Snape went back to his marking, and Bill visited with Professors McGonagall and Flitwick to give some verisimilitude to his story of wandering about and chatting up some of his former professors. His last stop before the party started was a trip to Dumbledore's office. He undoubtedly wanted to stress to Bill the need for the utmost discretion. Even people he trusted shouldn't be told because you never knew when someone could let something slip by mistake or be tortured or given Veritaserum for information. The less people knew, the better.

Meanwhile, Harry was laughing as the twins demonstrated some of their new products. After a number of futile attempts, they had stopped trying to convince Harry to be their guinea pig but wanted to show their "partner" all they had been doing lately.

By the time the Weasley clan reconvened for the late supper and New Year's celebration, Harry was back to normal, and Bill was laughing and joking with the best of them. At some point, Fred and George had pulled Harry and Draco away from the group. The upshot of the conversation was that they were giving Draco a chance because both he and Ron had asked them to, but if he stepped one toe out of line or hurt Harry in any way, he should be prepared to be white and furry for considerably longer than he had been courtesy of the fake Moody in third year.

Strangely, both of the twins seemed more reassured by Draco's matter-of-fact, yet serious, reaction to this threat. Harry was glad someone could be sanguine about it, because he found himself having to retreat to a meditation exercise in an effort not to hex them for threatening his boyfriend. For the rest of the night, every look from one of the twins seemed to be a judgment of some kind, and Harry was driving himself crazy trying to interpret them.

All in all, he was just as glad when the evening was over and the party broke up. The Weasleys would be leaving the next morning, and Harry was pretty sure he wouldn't even see them at breakfast.

#

The next day, Harry shifted his focus more toward the glassmaking. He'd like to get the pendant made before everyone came back from break, and that only left him a few days. So, first thing in the morning, he collected a large amount of sand from the lakebed. Before he dug in, he found himself talking out loud to he-wasn't-sure-what. "I would like to collect and use some sand from the lake. I'll do my best not to take any creatures with me by mistake. I'm going to use the sand respectfully and not waste it. Thank you for this gift." He really wasn't sure where the need to talk to the lake and the earth came from, but there it was. His instincts were driving him to make the pendant, but so were they driving him to explain himself. They hadn't steered him wrong yet.

He scooped up the sand and filtered it through a sieve and into a cauldron to make sure he was just getting sand. Then, he went down to Professor Snape's office to see if he would mind if Harry used the classroom. After that, he made the simple potion he needed to purify the sand and poured it into the cauldron until the sand was completely immersed in potion. While it soaked, he started on the one he would need later to prepare the sand for magical glassmaking. That one was more complicated. But, an hour later it was done, and it was time to strain the sand again. Then, he spread it out as thin as he could on some clean parchment to dry naturally. He had to push a number of workstations together to get enough surface area to dry all of the sand.

Next, he settled down to wait. He didn't want to leave it alone because someone could come by and upset his careful arrangement. So, he read over and practiced the wand motions for the spells he would need to say to complete the purification before putting on the second potion. Then, he did the same for those he would need for the glassmaking and conjuring the fire. Lastly, he started writing out a few simple phrases he would say while collecting or conjuring the elements and enclosing them in the pendant. As with the explanations while collecting the sand, he felt it was necessary.

When all of that was done, he checked on the sand and found it almost dry. So, he only had a little longer to wait. Luckily, he had brought some of his other work with him. He hadn't had a chance to finish his Charms assignment, and it actually worked as a refreshing break from all of the other work he had been doing the last week or so. In about an hour, he had refamiliarized himself with the last chapter they had been studying and written up an outline and first paragraph of the essay that was due the first day of class. He was trying to decide whether to continue on or put it aside for later when his stomach started to rumble with hunger. So, he checked on the sand again and found it perfectly dry. Luckily that potion was quick drying. He didn't think the sand would have dried that quickly if it had been ordinary water.

In 30 minutes, he had done the remaining spells and sprinkled the second potion over every square centimeter of sand. The potion almost instantly bonded with the sand and created a whole new compound, so there were no concerns about waiting for it to dry. Instead, he only had to carefully funnel all of the sand into a clean cauldron. He put a lid on the cauldron, sealed it with a quick charm, cleaned up any mess he had left, put the workstations back, and left the classroom as he had found it. Lastly, he took the cauldron and buried it in a snowdrift outside. The book said it shouldn't be allowed to get warmer than room temperature until you were ready to make the glass. It had, in fact, recommend colder if that was possible. Now he could go eat lunch.

He knew he was late, but he was hoping Draco was still waiting for him and hadn't gone back to his room. He was hoping to convince him to accompany him while he was making his first go at the pendant. He really wasn't sure if it was going to work the first time, so he wanted to start right away. That way, if he needed to try again for a few days in a row, he would still have time to get it done before everyone got back. He really didn't want anyone asking him what he was about if he could help it.

#

"Harry!"

"Hermione, why do you sound so excited to see me? We just saw each other a few hours ago."

"I'm hoping you can talk to those two."

Harry looked in the direction she gestured and saw Draco and Ron staring at each other with looks of hostility. "What up?"

"They've been either fighting or ignoring each other for the past few hours. I'm about ready to kill them both."

"Any idea what it's about?"

"Well, it started over a game of chess, but I don't think it's actually about the game."

"OK. I think I'll have a sandwich before I confront them. Don't let them leave before I'm ready."

"Are you OK? You look kind of drained."

"Oh, I'm good. I just need some fuel. I really should have eaten about an hour ago, but I wanted to finish with the sand purification first."

"Oh, you did that this morning?"

"Yeah, I'm hoping to try making the pendant this afternoon. That way, if it doesn't work out, I'll still have time to try again before everyone else gets back."

"Probably smart."

"Mmm." Harry grabbed a ham sandwich and some pumpkin juice and started to eat a little too fast. Then, he stopped himself and slowed down. He didn't need to make himself sick before trying to negotiate peace between a Weasley and a Malfoy.

Fifteen minutes later he got up and walked down the table to where Ron and Draco were now studiously ignoring each other. "So, I hear you guys have been at each other's throats for the past few hours. Wanna' go outside and talk about it?" They both looked at him mutinously. "Look, I need you both on my side. I've gotten used to the new, mature Ron and Draco. But, it's OK to have conflict. What's not OK is ignoring it and letting it fester. So, we're going to talk. Your only choice is the location. And you aren't allowed to pick either of your common rooms. How about the Room of Requirement?"

"Fine."

"K"

"Well, with that kind of enthusiasm, I can see we are going to be making lots of progress." He smirked at them both, but neither were in the mindset to appreciate his sarcasm. "Alright, let's go."

Harry asked the room to set itself as comfortable, non-confrontational, and neutral. He got a room that reminded him of the one that Hermione, Ron, and he had used to talk about Draco many months ago. There were a lot of pillows and soft rugs. But the only actual furniture was a low table with drinks. In this case, it was tea, and it smelled herbal — maybe chamomile.

"OK, I guess the room thinks we all need to be on the same level. So, let's all sit down and have a cup of tea. Then, you'll each tell me your version of the story. Ron, heads or tails?"

"What?"

"Pick heads or tails, I'll flip the coin, and whatever comes up decides who gets to tell his version of the story first."

"Harry, that's your DA galleon. Which is the head and which is the tail?"

"The side where I set the time is heads."

"How do you decide that?"

"Can we not argue about every little thing? I picked one; I said it out loud before we started. There can be nothing partial about it. Pick."

"Fine." Ron sounded cranky. "Heads."

Harry flipped the coin and it came up 'tails.' "Sorry, Ron. That's means Draco goes first — assuming he wants to."

"Whatever."

Harry turned to Draco and raised his eyebrows. He never had learned to only move one.

"This is stupid."

"Yeah, it is, Draco. But I wasn't one of the ones arguing half of the morning."

"It just got out-of-hand." Draco looked up with a pensive look on his face. "We were playing chess, and we both got kind of competitive. But the problem wasn't the chess match — at least not at first. We were also discussing trying to convince some students not to … you know."

"Umm, no. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake. He's talking about people who are thinking about becoming Death Eaters. He can barely say it! It's ridiculous!"

"Ron, you're not exactly the model of rationality about saying Voldemort's name. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

"Yeah, see, he's all inpatient with me, and he's just as bad — just about different stuff."

"OK, OK, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's try to get back to what actually happened."

"So, we're having this conversation, and it just got out-of-hand."

"Can you be more specific?"

"Well, I was trying to say that we needed to be careful and not confront people too directly, and he kept saying that we didn't have time to be careful. I think that if we aren't careful, we'll lose everyone. He thinks that if we take the time to be careful, we'll lose everybody. Then, it basically degenerated to a more generalized argument about chess strategy, Slytherins and Gryffindors, and just about anything else that we could find that we didn't agree about."

"Ron, is there anything you feel like he skipped or misrepresented?"

"No, I guess not," Ron admitted grudgingly.

"OK. It seems to me that you two managed to highlight the fundamental problem we have with convincing people not to join Voldemort."

"What?"

"No, I'm serious, Ron. You guys certainly didn't handle it well, but you basically hit the nail on the head. The problem is that we can't treat all potential Death Eaters the same. Some will respond to direct confrontation, and some will be alienated by it. We have to come up with a strategy that covers both. Frankly, we have to come up with more than just two strategies."

Both Ron and Draco looked a bit surprised that Harry had managed to condense an argument that had bogged them down for a few hours to a minute of common sense.

"Look, you two have both been incredibly mature and forgiving this year. You've gotten along with almost no problems. Frankly, it was spooky. If you didn't occasionally revert to your former, more hostile, relationship, I would be surprised. I'm just glad that there was at least a serious issue at the heart of this one. It might have degraded to ferret vs. weasel, but it started with a strategy discussion that we need to be having." He paused to let that sink in. "Did either of you say anything really low that you should apologize for, or should we just take it as read that you probably both said things you shouldn't have?"

"Well, umm, I really shouldn't have, umm, implied that he didn't want to move faster because he was trying to hedge his bets in case he picked the wrong side."

"Oh, Ron, you know that isn't true."

"Yeah, I reckon I do." Ron mostly kept his eyes on his tea, but he looked up just enough so Harry could tell he was genuinely ashamed of himself.

"Well, I might have invited that particular low blow since I was the first to resort to name calling. I even added in some truly juvenile comments about his family."

"Draco." The tone of voice appeared to have Draco feeling properly chastised. "Look, both of you need to stop attacking when you don't have a good response to the other's argument. The reason you couldn't completely defeat each other's argument is because you both were right. It wouldn't kill you to admit the other is right every once in a while." He waited until he had both of their attention, and they both nodded in reluctant agreement. "So, what do you say to working together on this little project?"

"What?" They were in complete agreement in their surprise.

"Well, I don't really have any time to dedicate to this problem, and I'm not terribly good at planning stuff like this anyway. But, you both are pretty good with it and have more time than I do. So, you should figure out how you want to do this and do it. If you need anyone else's help once you set up the plan, I'm sure we'd be more than willing to help with the execution. It's the planning that I want you guys to do."

"Harry, do you think this is a good idea?"

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't, Draco." He held both of their eyes. "Look, you don't have to come up with a plan today. You have plenty of time to work out your differences. And now that you've had your argument and realized how useless it was, I have confidence that you'll do a great job together." When they both nodded, Harry nodded back. "Great!"

With that, he walked out of the room to let them talk while the spirit of compromise was still with them. Harry was sure Hermione would be thrilled to help him make his pendant.

#

Harry watched the swirling mass of sand that was hanging in midair coalesce into the recognizable shape that he wanted his pendant to be. This was his third attempt on the second day of trying. That didn't even include the two tries yesterday afternoon after his little chat with Ron and Draco. He had gotten to this point before — twice. Now, he had to convince it to stay that way as it melted into glass under the heat of the unbelievable heat of the glassmaking spell. It was hard to hold onto all three spells at once — levitation, molding, and glassmaking. The book said that apprentice glassmakers sometimes took two months to get the knack. Harry was counting on his special skills to give him a bit of an edge. He said the next spell and watched the sand magically started to transform into a more cohesive whole and turn translucent.

"I think it's working, Harry." Hermione sounded excited. Harry was going to reserve judgment until he was more sure of the outcome.

They both watched with their breath held as the glass slowly took shape. It seemed to be holding shape. Unfortunately the glassmaking spell made any kind of mold impossible to use. Harry had to wonder if that was really true with all of the heat-resistant materials Muggles had invented in the last 50 years. It wouldn't be the first time a wizarding source was ill informed in the ways of Muggle science. If this didn't work, he might look into it.

Harry had actually closed his eyes in an effort to keep the shape he wanted the glass to form clearly in his head. Now, they snapped open when he heard Hermione give a soft "ah." He really couldn't tell if that was a good noise or a bad one.

What he saw was exactly what he wanted — a perfect piecrust of glass with four equal sections. He had even managed the loop at the top end that would enable him to put it on a chain when this was done. Carefully, he eased back on the power of the glassmaking spell as the book had said to do. When that was completely retracted, he sighed, "Finite Incantatum." That was to end the spell used to mold the sand and then glass into the desired shape. This was the true test. If the glass held its shape for the next 10 minutes as it rapidly cooled in the winter air, it had worked.

"Tempus." Hermione held up her wand and the time appeared in mid air. They both kept one eye on the clock and the other on the pendant that was hanging in mid air. The book said not to lift the levitation charm until you were sure the object would hold its shape.

"That's it, Harry. Ten minutes."

"Yeah." His voice still sounded hesitant because he wasn't sure he wanted to believe it yet. "Let's just give it a few more minutes in case our calculations are off on the temperature."

"Sure, we can do that." She sounded more like she was humoring him than anything, but Harry supposed she had more confidence in her calculation than any other aspect of this operation. After all, she was quite good at Arithmancy, and this wasn't nearly that complicated.

"OK. Fifteen minutes. I'm going to lower it to the ground gently. Don't touch it. It might still be too hot to touch." He knew the warning was unnecessary. She had read the books along with him when he was reviewing the procedure before starting yesterday.

The shape that would hopefully become his pendant was now on the ground. Harry held his hand a few inches above it to see how hot it was. Next, he grabbed some tongs and dropped the shape in a cauldron of water. A minute later, he pulled it out again and was surprised to find it had so quickly become cool enough to handle. He was running his fingers over it and turning it round and round in wonder at what he had managed to do.

"That was really amazing, Harry. Thanks for letting me watch."

"Hermione, you did more than watch. You helped with the calculations and stuff."

"And stuff, yeah. I didn't really do much. In any case, I think we should go in and have an early — and very filling — lunch. Then we can sit and rest a bit before we begin the next stage."

"K," he agreed reluctantly. Now that he had done it, he wanted to hold on to that success and finish it. But, the rational part of his mind knew that he needed a break and some fuel, and the heaviness in his legs as he got up to head to the Great Hall only reinforced that feeling.

#

Now that he had made the base, the rest of the process was remarkably easy. The contents went smoothly into their appropriate quarters, and it was much easier to figure out the top — or lid as Harry thought of it. Harry finished the first pendant and created another base for another pendant that afternoon. He put the unfinished pendant into the cauldron of purified sand and put the lid on his depleted store. He had enough to finish the top of the second pendant now that he knew what he was doing. But not much more.

"So, I'll come out here early and finish the second one. After that, do you think we could get started on some of the potions for the Infirmary?"

"Sure. And tomorrow night, we can finish off some homework and then get some more potions done the day after so things will be decently stocked by the time the rest of the students get back."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go check with Ron and Draco."

"What did you say to them to get them to stop glaring at each other?"

"Oh, a little of this, a little of that. I'm going to have them start working on a more definite plan to convert and provide refuge for the potential Death Eaters."

"Are you crazy? You asked them to work together without supervision?"

"Yup. Let's go see if they are both in one piece or spouting any extra limbs."

Hermione just laughed and followed him into the castle.

#

_Thanks for your patience. In reward, you'll get another chapter almost immediately. Of course, it's kind of short, but that's just where it wanted to break. _


	24. Chapter 24

Ron and Draco were whole, unharmed, and surprisingly chipper when Harry and Hermione found them. They wouldn't talk about their plans yet. They said they were too unformed at this point. The good news was that they were both good with the plan for potions making and homework for the next few days.

Harry finished his second pendant before breakfast the next day. Then, Hermione took charge in the potions classroom. In two days time, they had made more potions than Harry thought possible in such a short time. Still they would need to dedicate a few more days to potions making later in the semester. Each night, Harry and Draco took advantage of the slightly more relaxed rules during break to do their homework alone in Draco's room after which Harry didn't leave until the next morning. Both nights, they didn't get to sleep until a few hours before dawn. They were both determined to enjoy themselves while they could, and sleep seemed unimportant at the time.

Of course, by the time everyone else made it back, Harry had to go back to his more public persona. Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat in the common room and laughed and joked with their returning friends. By the end of the day, Harry's lack of sleep was catching up to him, and he was almost glad to be back to the usual routine.

#

The beginning of term moved quickly. Everyone was busy with schoolwork and this and that. Harry had regular classes (which sometimes ran into extra training with Snape and Draco during their independent study DADA), extra classes with Snape and Dumbledore (where he worked on practicing, controlling and perfecting his new skills), and Quidditch. His schedule was quite full, and January sped by. It was the first week of February when Ron and Draco asked for a meeting with their small group. They chose to meet in the room Snape and Harry used for their extra training sessions, and Harry was comfortably ensconced in his favorite chair doing homework by the time everyone else got there. He quickly put a closing sentence on the first draft of his Transfiguration essay and packed away his books.

"So, what's on the agenda today, guys?"

Ron looked a little nervous, but he took the lead. It appeared he and Draco had rehearsed this little presentation. "Well, you asked us to work on some strategies for convincing the students not to become Death Eaters." Harry knew why Ron was taking the lead when both Draco and Snape winced just a little bit. "We have made plans for quietly approaching various people. However, we keep coming back to two things. One: We need a safe alternative for the summer for people who want to join us but are afraid of being disowned. Two: We need to show the people who are sitting on the fence that the Light side has a very good chance of winning. Preferably, we would like a show of strength that didn't involve Dumbledore because he is not viewed as a viable alternative to You-Know-Who by our target audience." Ron looked over at Draco to make sure he agreed with his explanation, and Draco gave him a nod.

"Do you guys have more specific ideas for how you think those two things should be done?" Hermione looked curious and interested. Harry was glad she had chipped in. He didn't want to be the main interrogator and make Snape feel like he was taking over the leadership position in their group.

"We have ideas, but we'd like you all to tell us what you think of them. Plus, we're going to need your help to make them happen." Draco answered Hermione but looked at them all. "For the first point, the perfect solution would be a large house that we could set up as a haven for anyone who wanted to use it. However, we don't have anything except the Manor, and neither of us thinks that would be a good idea since we can't guarantee its safety. Too many of my father's associates know too much about how to get past certain wards and safety features. Plus, there's my mother to contend with, and there's always the chance my father will get out of Azkaban. So, the next best option is here at Hogwarts. We were trying to figure out if Dumbledore could be convinced to offer some kind of summer school option to a select group of people, and if the Ministry would allow it."

"How would we know who to invite?"

"That could be done one-on-one as people responded to certain overtures and after they were felt out and we were sure they weren't using the opportunity to spy on us."

Ron jumped in with his two cents. "We were kind of hoping Harry and Professor Snape could talk to Headmaster Dumbledore and see if he agreed. Then, he could work on the Ministry while we worked on who would be invited and other things."

Finally, Snape contributed. "What sort of things did you think should be taught during this summer session?"

"Defense mostly. Also, we were thinking it might be good to have a few other things so it didn't come off as training an army. So, we were thinking some students could help Hagrid, Professor Sprout, and yourself — if you're interested — with various chores and other upkeep kinds of things. We could disguise it as life-skills training and maybe we could convince my mum to come and teach household stuff ± cooking, cleaning, and home repair — things you might need once you have to live on your own."

"I wouldn't mind taking some of those classes. I can do most of it the Muggle way, but I'm sure the magical stuff would be loads easier," Harry contributed.

"Well, that's part of the plan, too. We were thinking that it would be good to invite some people that didn't need the sanctuary so it was less obvious what we were doing. We were hoping that could include the four of us for at least most of the summer. Frankly, I don't want to go back to the Manor. It's just not safe for me on my own."

Ron turned to Snape. "One of the things that we weren't sure about was staff. We don't know how much time the teachers usually spend here over the summer, and we don't want to create something that means you are all stuck being our minders all summer. Hopefully, we can include some prefects who will help, but we'll still need teachers."

"There are a few of us who generally spend most, if not all, of our summer here at the castle. As you guessed, the greenhouses and the grounds don't take care of themselves, so someone has to do it. Others take larger parts of the summer off but spend part of their time here, as well. Since it would be a smaller group of students, I would think we would be able to work out something without imposing too much on my fellow staff. The elves, of course, would be thrilled to have someone to cook and clean for."

"Do you think the Headmaster will agree?" Draco looked nervous as he asked his question and eyed Harry and Snape, who he apparently thought would know Dumbledore better and could form an educated guess.

"I think the Headmaster will be delighted to do whatever is necessary to keep even one more young person out of the Dark Lord's clutches. The tricky part will be convincing the Board of Governors and the Ministry to allow it." Snape looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think that this idea would be better presented by the people who thought of it so that if he has any unexpected questions, you can answer them. How about we ask him for a meeting with all of us?"

"Whatever you think is best, sir." It was amazing how easy Ron found it to give Snape the proper respect now that Snape wasn't always being so nasty in classes.

"How about the second point?" Hermione, of course, was here to keep everyone on track.

"You're not going to like this, Harry, but you're central to our next plan." Draco turned to his boyfriend and gave his shoulder a very brief squeeze.

"See, mate, Draco was telling me a little about some of the training sessions you and he get into with Professor Snape. Specifically, he was telling me about the ones where you set a scene and he attacks like a Death Eater would, and you try to get out of it. Then, he mentioned that Professor Jackson was talking about setting up a time when she could observe or test your skills to make sure you guys were still on target with your independent study. The trick was finding a time when all of you were free since she generally had our class when you guys were working with Professor Snape or on your own."

"I think I already know where you're heading with this, and I REALLY don't like it."

"Well, I'm going to finish anyway. So, I thought that what we needed was a little demonstration. Professor Jackson could have our class come down and observe while she and Professor Snape tested you guys in a two-on-two scenario. Since we all know how fast news travels in this place, the story of what happened would be all over the castle by dinner the same day."

"What, exactly, do you two do in one of these scenarios?" Hermione was the only one who didn't know exactly what was going on.

"Generally, we pick a place — like out by the lake. Harry then makes the classroom we're using look like that place."

"Wait, wait. How do you do that?"

"Super powers — remember?"

"I remember you being an elemental. I don't remember anything about bringing the outdoors in."

"Well, I can do a sort of room-sized charm slash transfiguration that makes it look and feel like whatever place I want. It works best with nature scenes since they are so much closer to the elements. But, one time we did a room at the Manor and another time we did the Dursleys' first floor. Obviously, it only really works if I'm familiar with the place I'm trying to recreate."

"When did you figure this out, and why didn't you tell me?"

"It just sort of happened one Defence class really early in the term, and I've been practicing ever since. Sorry, I forgot to mention it. It was just a really useful tool to me."

"Yeah, well, Draco says it pretty awesome to watch, so we were hoping you could do that while the whole class watches because it'll impress the heck out of them. Then, Snape and Jackson could emerge from the Forbidden Forest and attack you guys while you were lazing by the lake or whatever. Can you imagine how impressed everyone would be if you two defeated two teachers? And not just any teachers but the DADA teacher and an ex-Death Eater?" Ron seemed to realize that he might have gone too far. "Sorry, sir, no offence intended."

"None taken, Mr. Weasley." Rather than looking annoyed, Snape looked amused. Harry was pretty sure that wasn't a good sign for him. "I think it's an excellent plan."

"What!" Harry was hoping to have one reasonable ally. "It is not! We aren't supposed to be telling anyone about my elemental powers."

"No one said anything about telling them about those powers. We weren't planning on explaining what you were doing. I don't think anyone is going to guess where your power is coming from. They'll just be really impressed by it."

"Draco! I can't believe you're helping. What happens when we lose? That'll really impress them, eh?"

"First off, you are both still students and not even in your NEWT year, so even a good fight against your teachers will be impressive. Secondly, you know as well as I do that you are likely to win. When you two work together, you both seem to understand each other without any need for discussion. With your power and Draco's strategies, I think you would give me a good fight even if I was working with Professor McGonagall, and she has been the Headmaster's trusted lieutenant since the Grindelwald war. Professor Jackson is younger, less experienced, and easier to predict."

"But … but …"

Draco moved over to kneel in front of Harry's chair. He grabbed his hands and looked him straight in the eye. "Look, Harry, we know you hate being the center of attention and the symbol of hope and all that. But, well, you are. Everyone thinks you are the key to defeating the Dar- You-Know-Who and, well, you are. Back when I used to make fun of the Light side, I used to either make fun of the batty Headmaster who obviously wasn't on point anymore or make jokes about how stupid, klutzy, clueless, powerless Harry Potter was the greatest hope of defeating You-Know-Who. We all know that Dumbledore plays crazy codger for a reason, and I am not about to ask him what it is or doubt his reasoning. But, you are completely not what you seem. You have spent the past year learning so much and developing your power. If I was still on the other side and saw you in action in one of our classes, I would have some serious doubts about if my side were going to win or not. That's what we have to do. Show them that they are backing the wrong horse."

"C'mon, mate, it won't be that bad. Just an hour or two, and then it's over."

"But, it's not over after that. Then, everyone starts talking and pointing and looking to me for answers again. I hate that. I don't have any answers."

"Harry, do you remember when I convinced you to start the DA?" Harry nodded at Hermione while rolling his eyes. "You remember how you tried to convince everyone that you hadn't done all that stuff on your own and you didn't really know much more than we did?" Again, he nodded. "Well, this is like that. I appreciate that you _think_ you're nothing special and you don't have the answers. But, frankly, you are and you do. It's time to give in gracefully."

"Hell."

"Language, Mr. Potter."

"Sorry, sir. Do I have to?" He got nods from all around the room. "Fine, I'll do it. But if this goes spectacularly badly, I'm not taking responsibility."

Draco's "Of course, Harry" came out at the same time as Ron's "Sure, mate." Hermione just beamed at him while Snape was back to that vaguely amused look.

#

_Thanks for reading!_


	25. Chapter 25

**Part 5: Blossoming**

Two weeks later, Harry was standing in the mostly deserted Great Hall glowering at the enchanted ceiling. Dumbledore had been informed of Ron and Draco's plans and was enthusiastically in favor of them both. He gladly took the summer school proposal that they had written up and promised to bring it to the Board of Governors for their approval. In the meantime, he was all in favor of the demonstration.

It had been decided that no classroom, no matter how it was magically altered, would have room for the test for Harry and Draco as well as the spectators. Instead, they would be using the Great Hall. Harry had received a special dispensation to be out of bed after curfew for the last few nights. He wanted to be sure that he could do his transfiguration-charm thingee on such a large room without any problem. One thing he had discovered over the past few nights was that the enchanted ceiling added its own quirks.

When he created a scene in a classroom, he could pick the time of day or weather that he wanted that scene to use. If he pictured Hagrid's hut with giant pumpkins growing in the yard, he got a fall day even though it was February in the real world. It had been useful to practice for nighttime scenarios on a few occasions. However, the charm on the ceiling meant that he could not choose any time, place, or weather he wanted. Instead, he was stuck with a scene corresponding to the ceiling, which was charmed to mirror the weather landing on the roof on that part of the castle.

That was why Harry was glowering at the ceiling. It was the day of the big demonstration, and it was, of course, cold and raining outside. One thing he had discovered over the last few days was that whatever the weather was outside would become real – or at least feel real – after he set the scene in the Great Hall. Not only did Harry have to perform in front of his whole class and endure all of the pointing and questions after the event, but also he had to be cold and wet during the actual demonstration. There was nothing quite so cold as rain in February in Scotland.

"Are you sure you can't pick the weather?"

"Look, Draco, this was your idea. Stop whinging."

"You aren't going to let me forget this, are you?"

"I'm trying to be a good sport, but you know that I don't like being in the spotlight. This is like a stress dream come to life for me."

Draco grabbed Harry's wrist and dragged him out of the Hall and into a small alcove where they could have a few moments of privacy. He held onto the wrist and grabbed the other one as well. "Harry, I know we're asking you to do something that you really don't want to do. You have to know that Ron and I tried really hard to come up with another option that would have the same effect, and we couldn't come up with anything."

"I know," Harry mumbled without meeting Draco's eyes.

"Look at me." Draco waited until Harry did as he asked. "I would take this off your hands if I could. Since I can't, just remember that I will be at your side the whole time."

"I know. Look, I'm sorry I'm being a big baby about this. I'll get over myself, really."

"Harry, I'm not trying to guilt you into behaving. I'm just trying to let you know that I really appreciate you doing this and that I wouldn't've asked if there was a better option. But, I really think this might help us." He quickly looked over Harry's shoulder to make sure they didn't have an audience and then grabbed Harry in a hug and buried Harry's face in his neck. "We'll get through this together."

Harry held on and took a few deep breaths. Then, he pulled back. "OK, I'm ready. Let's go before the class gets here."

Harry and Draco entered the Hall just a few moments before Professor Jackson led the rest of their DADA class in. Snape had arrived from the faculty entrance sometime while they were in the hallway and was waiting for them between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. Snape and Jackson conferred for a moment and then she turned to the class and steered them toward the far end of the room. After she moved the High Table out of the way, she had them grab benches from their regular tables and move them up to the platform the teachers usually ate at. Next, she put up a magical barrier that would protect them from stray spells. In the meantime, Snape and Draco were moving the rest of the tables and benches out of the way toward the Gryffindor side of the room. When all was ready, Snape, Jackson, and Draco headed back toward Harry, who was standing in the middle of the room with his eyes closed.

"We're ready, Mr. Potter," Snape said quietly enough that most would believe he was just giving him an instruction. But his tone was carrying enough that each of the students watching would be able to hear.

Harry nodded, opened his eyes, and then raised his wand to the ceiling. He didn't actually need his wand for this type of magic, but it had been decided that it would look good if he appeared to be using it. He gestured at the ceiling and watched for a moment as the charm became more real. The buttresses that were usually just visible behind the charm disappeared and the rain started to land all around them. Next, he gestured at the floor and grass sprang up under his feet. Already, he could hear murmuring from the crowd on the platform. Lastly, he pointed at the walls and spun a slow circle. The illusion was complete after he had spun 360 degrees. Anyone coming into the Great Hall at that moment would believe they had walked out the front door by mistake.

"OK. You two will be going down to Hagrid's cabin, and we will attack. You know the rules." With that, Snape and Jackson disillusioned themselves and (presumably) walked off so that Harry and Draco wouldn't know where they were coming from.

Harry turned to Draco. "Well, we all know you wouldn't be likely to come out in this weather without a water repellant charm, so …" Harry flicked his wand at Draco and then himself. Water repellant charms were rather like a cheap raincoat. They kept you dryer than nothing but still let in some of the damp and did nothing for the cold. Nothing else was practical for a fighting scenario.

Draco smirked. "Shall we?" He gestured toward Hagrid's hut, and they started walking and chatting to complete the image of two innocent schoolboys out for a visit. When they got to the hut, they hadn't been attacked yet, so they knocked on the door. There really was no telling how long they would have to play along. Harry supposed they could pretend Hagrid wasn't answering and then head back to the castle in a bit.

Thus, he was shocked when Hagrid opened the door for them. For a moment, Harry couldn't figure out how they got him in to play the part. Then, he noticed that his clothes were entirely too clean. "Hagrid, we were just coming down to see if you wanted to show us that patch of night clover you said you found." At the same time, Harry put a hand on Draco's shoulder in a seemingly casual gesture; he was actually putting a bit too much weight on it to try to signal Draco that this wasn't actually Hagrid.

"Well, now, I don't rightly remember whar' tha' was. How about ye' come in an' have a cuppa tea while I tries to 'member."

"Oh no, that's OK. We'll just come back at a better time." Harry didn't wait to see what 'Hagrid's' reaction would be but grabbed Draco's hand and stepped backwards down the one step up to his front door.

Once they were back on solid ground, they dove for the cover afforded them in Hagrid's garden. The fight was on!

#

About an hour later, Harry was breathing heavily while keeping his wand trained on Snape and Jackson, who were stupefied, petrified, and tied up at his feet. Draco was beside him and they were watching 'Hagrid' morph back into Jackson and making sure she didn't wake up or get free from the suddenly looser bindings during the process. Draco ennevated Snape and unpetrified him just from the neck up. Only he could call a halt to the scenario, and he had on more than one occasion derided them for setting him free before he had done so.

He blinked his eyes open and took in his state and surroundings and then checked on the status of Professor Jackson. "OK, gentleman, very good. I see you waited for the Polyjuice to wear off as a precaution. Excellent. Now let me up." They both shook their heads in the negative and could hear the gasps of their classmates. "I'm glad to see you've learned your lesson. Powdered root of asphodel."

Those were the words that indicated the scenario was truly at an end. So, they released both of their professors. Harry then pointed at the ceiling, floor, and walls to restore the room back to the Great Hall. While they waited for Professor Jackson to get back her equilibrium, Draco threw quick warming and drying charms at both Harry and himself. They might have won, but they both were injured, cold, and wet. They might still need to visit Madame Pomfrey, but at least they weren't likely to come down with pneumonia. Harry still didn't feel warm enough to take off the outdoor cloak he had been wearing since before Draco had steered him out into the hallway for his little pep talk.

"Well, gentleman, I don't think there is any doubt that you have both performed well today. But, as you know, there are always a few things to be learned from any experience. You were, for example, entirely too hesitant to use the appropriate amount of force to bring down a half-giant. It shouldn't have taken that long for you to overcome your scruples. How about you go up to Madame Pomfrey? I'll have the rest of your class return the Hall to order, and then Professor Snape and I will join you so she can look over us as well. We can then all meet up in my office so Professor Snape and I can give you some feedback on your performance."

Harry and Draco nodded and headed up to the Infirmary.

#

"But, Harry …"

"Don't 'but Harry' me. You promised that if I did this, I could lay low for a bit afterwards. That's why we planned it for a Friday."

"Yeah, but that was when I thought you were going to hole up in my room with me."

"Draco, you just said you were going to need to be a bit more visible this weekend in case anyone needed to approach you. You can't have it both ways."

"…"

"Stop imitating a fish, Mr. Malfoy. Mr. Potter has you cornered with your own logic. Plus, he has an appointment with me, and you are not invited."

"But …"

"No buts." Snape raised a brow. "Or is that what this little temper tantrum is really about? You don't like it when Harry has secrets from you … hmmm? Perhaps if you learned that Occlumency is not just something you practice when someone is aiming a Legimens spell at you, we would _think_ about trusting you with certain secrets. Mr. Potter spent years ignorant of plans that were being made _about him_ and had to learn to block the Dark Lord's presence _in his own mind_ 24 hours a day before he was allowed to learn any of them. You really cannot expect him to have much sympathy for your frustration at being kept in the dark about plans that do not concern you in the slightest."

"Yes, sir," he mumbled petulantly

"What was that, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I said, I understand, Professor Snape, and I apologize for my immaturity."

"Excellent. Now, shall we go to Professor Jackson's office? I believe we have a critique waiting for the two of you."

#

"She thinks you should take your Defense NEWTS this year?" Hermione was quite possibly more excited than Harry or Draco had been at the suggestion.

"Yeah. She mentioned that if we did, we could maybe start post-graduate level studies next year. At the very least, we would be exempt from class with whatever boob Dumbledore is forced to hire next year."

"Harry, you shouldn't say things like that."

"Hermione, the position is cursed. It has been for decades. Word gets out. Most people with a shred of sense don't want to take it. I'm not saying anything against the Headmaster. It just stands to reason that we won't have two competent teachers in a row."

"Well …"

"Whatever. In any case, I think I'm going to go talk to McGonagall about the NEWT thing. She's given me good career advice before. I trust her judgment. See you guys later. I'm skipping the Great Hall for a couple of meals, so don't wait for me to go down."

"But, Harry, you can't skip meals just because you don't want to be stared at."

"Who said anything about skipping meals? I'm just going to get them directly from the kitchens."

"Oh."

Harry laughed at the surprised look on his friend's face. "See you later."

#

Harry looked very carefully at the diary. This was the first he was seeing it since he had given it to Snape when they got back from the Manor. They had spent the intervening weeks practicing various skills with his powers. First, they had worked on more cursed objects to see if Harry could undo the curses. Next, they had moved on to charms and then transfiguration. Harry now had a basic understanding of how to undo or manipulate the magic on an object by manipulating the look or feel of those magics using his magic-sight. He was finally getting the chance to try it on the diary.

"Now, Mr. Potter, what do you see?"

He was also getting better at activating the magic sight without needing to go into a trance. It still used plenty of energy, but it meant he could talk to Professor Snape, and they could make plans for the next step together.

"It's a thick, solid layer with one small seam and a hole next to it. I would guess that hole is like a keyhole. Say the right charm or drip the right potion, and the charm comes open at the seam to reveal the diary."

"Excellent. We've dealt with this sort of problem before. You know what to do."

Harry did. He spent some more time investigating the hole and formulating a bit a raw magic plucked from the air around him into the exact shape that would fit it. When he was certain he had the right shape, he waved his hand and the shape fell into the hole. As he hoped, the dark circle of magic came open at the seam. Harry switched off his magic-sight (another skill he was getting better at) and looked down. There it was, the diary just as he remembered it from when he shoved in his sock to give to Lucius.

"Yes!"

"Very good, Mr. Potter. The first stage is done. That, however, was the easy part. We had practiced for that. Now, let's have a bit of a snack and discuss what comes next."

Snape had discovered early on that Harry was generally starving after working with his magic-sight and manipulating raw magic as he had. He had only done the one object, so he was just slightly peckish, but Harry saw no reason to let his energy lag now. So, he settled down for a "bit of a snack" of a ham and cheese sandwich, pumpkin juice, and an assortment of finger-sized fruits and veggies.

"Now, it is important that when you 'look at' the diary as it is now, you keep the level of communication that we have been practicing for the last few weeks. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir. I won't do anything until we discuss it. I don't think this is going to be dangerous, but I'm learning to be more cautious."

"Good. I'm glad that I'm finally teaching you to use some of your Slytherin good sense."

"Oh, but I'm a Gryffindor through and through." He said this last bit with a cheeky grin, and Snape just raised an eyebrow as if to say, "oh really." They both knew he had a healthy streak of Slytherin in him. It was a bit of a running joke with them. Or, as much of a running joke as it could be with someone whose idea of laughing usually involved a raised eyebrow and the smallest possible quirk of the lips.

"All right, I'll be ready to start again in a minute. Let me go wash my hands and stuff." Harry headed to the nearest bathroom from their secret classroom. It was actually down the hall a bit, but no one ever came near this hallway so he didn't have to worry about running into anyone. Thank god. He had made one appearance in the Gryffindor common room and been absolutely mobbed with classmates wanting to congratulate him on taking out Snape and generally stare at him worshipfully. It was creepy.

A minute later, he was back to looking closely at the diary. This time, what he saw wasn't obscured by the charm guarding its identity. That faint sense of the diary that he had used to pick it out of the pile at Malfoy Manor was in full force. However, the rays of magic connecting it to the other Horcruxes were still considerably dimmer than in his dream. He supposed that had been just his subconscious sending him a message. Now, he was dealing with the real thing, and the real thing was no longer a housing for Voldemort's soul. Instead, it was just the faint echo of one.

"I'm sorry, sir. I don't think I can follow these. Most of them are incredibly dim. I didn't take into consideration that it wasn't a Horcrux anymore, so it wouldn't have much magic left to it."

"Stop castigating yourself. This was just one idea of how to get hold of them. You know this. Now, stop being so dramatic and think clearly. You said, most of them are incredibly dim. What about the others?"

"Well, actually, it's just one that isn't. Maybe that one is nearby. Oh, sir! Do you think he would have hid one in the castle? He was pretty obsessed with Hogwarts."

"That is a very good possibility. However, we have to think how we can follow the direction this is trying to show you without alerting the other residents of the castle."

They both thought for a moment. "Do you think that if we told the Headmaster, he could come up with a distraction to get everyone in one place — like the Great Hall or the Quidditch Pitch? If the pull was heading there, we could just find out as much as we could and then come back after curfew. If not, we'd have the run of the castle."

"Perhaps." Snape thought for another moment. "Stay here, Mr. Potter. Do NOT try to figure it out. In fact, stop looking at it and just rest. We might need your energy up for an extended search. The castle is quite large."

With that last command, Snape whirled and headed for the door. Harry watched his robe swirl dramatically and wondered if he ever strolled anywhere.

#


	26. Chapter 26

Dumbledore gathered everyone in the Great Hall under the excuse that they were refining some of the protections on the castle and couldn't afford to have the students in the way. He told them he left Professor McGonagall in charge of making sure all of the students were there. Harry could only guess what all of his recent admirers would think of him not being there while _someone_ was doing this important work. He had a feeling Dumbledore was using it as an excuse to contribute to Harry's mystique. Oh well, they had asked for his help, and he had done what they required. Harry told himself he should be grateful for being included in the party of three that knew what was really going on.

So, with Dumbledore and Snape trailing him protectively, he started his trek. In no time, they were on the seventh floor, and Harry was more convinced than ever that one of the Horcruxes was somewhere in the castle. The ray of magic he was following was getting stronger. Harry walked another few feet and then looked up from the diary to see where he was. He realized with a sudden feeling of dread that they were getting close to the Room of Requirement. He had a feeling Voldemort had stored it in the Room. Would they need to know exactly what room he had used, or could they just ask it to give them the Horcrux? He had a feeling the powerful magic used to create the Room was going to be VERY unpredictable. Oh yeah, another hurdle.

Harry snapped off his magic sight and turned to Snape and Dumbledore. "I'm pretty sure it's in the Room of Requirement. I don't know what that means about our ability to get to it."

"Ah, yes. That would make sense."

"The what?"

Harry ignored Dumbledore's omniscient mumblings and answered Snape's question. "The Room of Requirement, sir. It's up there across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and the dancing trolls. It only appears when you are in need of something and you pass the spot thinking of it three times. Then, the door appears, and the room is exactly what you need it to be."

Snape's eyebrows crawled further into his hairline than Harry had ever seen them. Within a few seconds he had recalled himself and was back to his normal self. "How do you know this room exists?"

"Dobby told me about it, sir. It's where we had our DA lessons all last year."

"Ah. You said you were almost positive. Let's keep going until you are more certain, shall we? One thing at a time."

"Yes, sir." Harry turned back around and turned back on his magic-sight. He followed the ray of magic down the corridor until it pulled him to the side of the corridor where the Room's door would appear. He could see the ray disappear into the blank wall. It was definitely in there somewhere. "This is it. I'm as sure as I can be that it's here. This is where the door usually appears."

"Albus, it seems you had some insight when Mr. Potter mentioned this Room earlier."

"Yes, I was thinking of the last time I saw Tom Riddle in this school."

"When he wanted the DADA position!"

"Exactly, Harry." Dumbledore smiled a Harry indulgently and then turned to Snape. "Harry and I have been studying his behavior in my memories in the hopes of finding further clues to the Horcruxes locations. Tom tried to convince me to give him the DADA post a long time ago. When he left, he would have walked right through this corridor. He may have been hoping for a better hiding place, but I'm sure he knew about this room. It makes sense that it is here."

"Yes, sir. But how do we get it back? We don't even know what it is."

"Indeed, Harry, we don't. How about you try asking the room for the Horcrux? If that doesn't work, we'll ask it for a room to hide something in. Perhaps it will give us the same room it gave Tom."

"Right." Harry fixed the feeling of the Horcrux and its connection to the diary in his hand firmly in his head. Then, he walked back and forth in front of the blank wall three times thinking more and more desperately about how he needed that Horcrux. He didn't let himself think that if the room didn't know what the item was, it couldn't deliver on his request, and he kept his eyes firmly shut to avoid distractions. When he opened them, there was no door. "Damn."

"Language, Mr. Potter."

"Sorry, sir. I was really hoping that would work."

"Well, try again. You know what to do."

This time, Harry tried to think like Tom. _I need to hide something important._ He paced back and forth and when he opened his eyes, a door had appeared. Cautiously, he opened the door with Snape and Dumbledore on his heels. The room was the size of a cathedral, and it was chock-a-block with discarded objects.

"I guess he wasn't the only one who's ever had to hide something. Students must have been hiding stuff here for centuries. This doesn't strike me as being terribly secure for one of Voldemort's Horcruxes."

"No, but Tom believed he knew more about Hogwarts than any student before him. I don't believe many would think to bring this room up to look for something."

"Yes, not everyone has a free house-elf willing to do anything to help his savior break the rules of the school. Down to business. Is it here?" Snape was obviously back to his usual terse self.

"One minute."

Harry looked down at the diary and activated his magic-sight. The ray was stronger now, and itwas leading him deep into the labyrinth of discarded items.

"It's here somewhere."

Harry walked forward, careful not to upset any of the large, toppling piles of junk. He didn't look too closely at the piles, but he noticed chairs and books, weapons and broomsticks, crates and hats.* So very much junk. Deeper and deeper they went. Harry turned a corner at the broken Vanishing Cabinet in which Montague had gotten lost the previous year. He continued walking until he got the sense the item was very near. In front of him was a large cupboard with a blistered surface, a bust of a warlock on a crate, a dusty old wig, and tarnished tiara. He extended the diary in his hand and concentrated harder. It was the tiara.

"Found it!"

"Don't touch it!" Snape snapped as Harry's hand extended to grab the tiara.

"Right. Silly of me. It's the tiara."

"Can you sense any nefarious magic protecting it?"

Harry flipped back on his magic sight. "No, sir. It seems pretty safe."

"We'll just be careful anyway." With this, Snape brought up his wand and performed a few diagnostic spells. After a minute, he fished an item out of one of his many pockets and enlarged it. It was a large white case. He then floated the tiara into the case and sealed it. "This should contain any magics until we are more prepared to deal with them. Albus, could you take charge of it for now?"

"Of course, Severus. This is excellent, Harry. Thank you very much for all of your hard work. I had no idea what item of Ravenclaw's Tom would use, but it appears that he found her lost diadem. Everyone assumed it was lost forever."

"Diadem?"

"Yes, Harry. But, perhaps I should hold that story for a few hours. I want you to go back to your room and rest. You look quite done in."

"Yes, sir." Harry was a bit disappointed that he would have to wait for an explanation, but truthfully he was feeling a bit knackered. The thought of his bed was quite appealing.

"I will send that house-elf friend of yours up to you with a snack. I want you to eat before you go to sleep. Come to my office when you wake up," said Snape.

"Yes, sir."

Harry trudged out of the Room of Requirement behind Snape and Dumbleore. He watched them head toward the Headmaster's office, and he headed the other way to Gryffindor. Harry concentrated on his feet as they suddenly felt very heavy. He was going to sleep for hours if he didn't watch it. He was definitely setting an alarm so he wouldn't miss the rest of the day. Plus, he wanted to visit with Draco if he could manage it.

*I took a large part of my descriptions of the Room of Requirement and its cathedral of discarded items from the books — both HBP and Deathly Hallows. Remember that in this version, Harry never had a Potions book to hide, so the bust wouldn't be wearing the old wig and the diadem since he had not put them together as a marker for the place that he had stashed Snape's old Potions book.

#

Harry was just settling down to rest after eating the food Dobby had appeared with when he heard the rest of his House starting to trickle back into the Common Room. He quickly drew his curtains and threw up a silencing spell so he could get some rest. Next, he set his alarm and settled down to take a nap. His stomach was pleasantly full, and his brain was blissfully empty, so he was asleep almost immediately.

Two hours later, he was waking up to an empty dorm room. When he checked the time, he realized everyone was probably at dinner. Harry counted himself lucky to avoid interrogation by his housemates for a bit longer and gathered his bathroom supplies and nipped off for a quick shower. Next, he headed to the dungeons to talk to Snape.

"Mr. Potter, I didn't expect you so soon. You should still be sleeping."

"I didn't want to sleep too much and then wake up at 2 AM and not be able to sleep for the rest of the night."

"And this has nothing to do with spending time with Mr. Malfoy?" Snape's eyebrow was definitely sardonic in this case.

"No, sir, of course not." Harry's voice, on the other hand, was over-the-top-sweet. His butter-wouldn't-melt-in-my-mouth smile went with it.

"I'll let you get away with this now, but you will be going to bed — in Gryffindor —early tonight."

"Yes, sir." This time, Harry was nothing but sincere.

"Good. Now, I believe you wanted to know about the Ravenclaw diadem." At Harry's nod, he continued. "The Ravenclaw diadem was purported to impart great wisdom to the wearer. It has been lost for centuries, but stories of it abound. It has ascended to the stuff of myth in the Ravenclaw common room where most are somewhat obsessed about the knowledge they could obtain if only they could find and wear it. Somehow, and I suspect we may never know how, the Dark Lord appears to have located it, turned it into a Horcrux, and hidden it in your Room of Requirement."

"I wonder how he found it."

"The Headmaster says there are rumors that the Gray Lady of Ravenclaw, their house ghost, has been around almost as long as Hogwarts. He postulates that the Dark Lord may have wormed some information out of her when he was a student here."

"He was a charming bastard."

"Indeed."

"So what did he do with it? I think we should keep it someplace safe — but all three of us should know the location. It has to be large enough that any of the others we find can fit. We can't afford to destroy them until we are closer to being done. I think he'll know if we start destroying parts of his soul. We don't want to let him know how much we know." When Harry stopped talking, Snape was just looking at him. "What?"

"That was almost exactly what the Headmaster said. Did you discuss this ahead of time?"

Harry's brow furrowed. "No. I just was thinking about it as I came down here."

"I think you two have spent too much time bent over a Pensieve together this past year."

"Is that your way of saying I'm starting to think like the Headmaster? That's far from an insult in my book. He might be a bit barmy, but we both know he's brilliant under all that bluster."

The only response Snape gave to that was one of his signature eyebrow lifts. "We have already secured the diadem. The Headmaster will show you the location and explain how to get into it without tripping the various alarms we placed on it."

"Can I guess we're going to the Gaunt house next?"

"Yes, after much discussion, the Headmaster has been convinced to bring us both rather than haring off on his own. You and I will leave the castle for some off-site 'training,' and he will be going to one of his undisclosed meetings. In fact, you should pretend you and I were out of the building when everyone was gathered in the Great Hall today. We've set a meeting place and time for next week. You are to report here next Saturday, with all of your usual training supplies, at 8 AM. I'll have the diary, and I'll Apparate with you from the edge of the Forbidden Forrest."

"Perfect. Is there anything else we need to discuss or prepare beforehand?"

"Not at this time. We'll discuss our strategies at our usual meeting this week."

"OK. Does that mean I'm free to go now?"

"Yes, Mr. Potter, you may go. But…I will know if you aren't back in your own bed at a reasonable hour. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

#

Harry stopped at the kitchens for yet more food and then headed to Draco's room. He was surprised when he got there to find that Draco wasn't in his room. He made himself at home, lounging on his bed, and borrowed one of Draco's textbooks to get started on his Charms reading. Before he got far, Harry was surprised to see Ron arrive with Draco.

"We need someplace people can get together and talk. Pince won't let anyone socialize in the library, and the house common rooms are too partisan."

"Yeah, a lounge where everyone could hang out and study or whatever. Plus, we need someplace safe for people to approach us or vice versa. No one can find you here, and only the Gryffindors can find Hermione and me in our common room."

"Exactly."

"Hey you two!"

"Harry! Where've you been all day? You haven't been hiding here in Draco's room all day, have you?"

"Nah, I just got here about, ohh, 3 pages of Charms ago. Snape and I did some training outside today, and then I took a bit of a nap."

"Yeah, I figured you had to be out or something 'cause you weren't in the Great Hall earlier today."

Harry figured his best bet was not to say anything, so he just looked quizzically at Draco.

"About the middle of the day, everyone had to gather in the Great Hall for _hours_ while the Headmaster went off and did something with the protections on the castle."

"Oh?" Again, the less said the better.

"Yeah, it was right boring. I didn't realize we were going to be stuck so long, and I didn't think to grab my chess set. All I had to keep me busy was _homework_." The last word was said with all of the disgust Ron would normally reserve for bubotuber pus or some other vile potion ingredient.

"Horrors."

"Well, I wasn't complaining. I got lots of homework done, so I'll have plenty of time free this evening." Draco gave Harry a significant look as he said this last part.

"Well, I still have work to do, so I'm heading to the library." Ron was getting much better at picking up hints. "Meet me there later if you have time."

"We'll do that." Draco sounded less than convincing.

At the door, Ron turned around. "Don't forget to tell him about Nott." Then he left.

Harry turned to Draco, "Nott?"

"Later."

Thirty minutes later, they came up for air, and Harry nestled into Draco's side. "Unfortunately, I can't stay too much longer." At Draco's distressed noise, Harry continued, "I took a bit of a nap, but I really need to go to bed pretty early tonight. I'm still knackered. Plus, Snape knows exactly where I am, and I'll be in hot water if I stay here tonight."

"Why'd you go and tell him where you were going?"

"You don't really think I had to _tell_ him, do you? He sent me to bed after we were done today and told me to see him again when I woke up. He knew as soon as I showed up a few hours later than I had set an alarm so I could come see you instead of sleeping through the night."

"Oh." Draco paused for a moment. "You set an alarm so you could come see me?" Now he sounded surprised and pleased.

"Course I did. I know I've been crazy busy lately, and we haven't had much time alone since before everyone came back from the holidays."

"Thanks." Draco reached down and pulled Harry's chin up and kissed him sweetly on the lips.

"Happy to do it."

"How much more time do you have?"

"Not sure. Maybe half an hour or so."

"Grrr. Oh well, I guess I'll have time to go be visible in a public place again before curfew."

"We can meet up tomorrow in the library. I've got to get caught up on my homework."

"You ready for being that public?"

"I've got to do it sooner or later." Draco just smiled at him. "Come on, we don't have much time, and we have important business to finish."

"Oh well, don't let me stop you." Draco smirked. "Is this naked business?"

"Unfortunately, no. What's with Nott?"

"Oh yeah. Almost forgot. We're not really sure what's with him, but he's been acting funny since coming back from the holidays. This task you assigned us has us scrutinizing everyone. Once Weasley and I talked and realized we both were getting the same feeling off him, we started to watch more carefully. He's doing something in the Room of Requirement. We caught him disappearing in there a few times. Sometimes he uses Crabbe and Goyle as guards, but they really stand out looming around up on the seventh floor. Plus, I don't know if he has their undivided loyalty. Blaise seems to be wavering since the demonstration, but he hasn't made any overt moves. In any case, sometimes Crabbe and Goyle are with Nott, and sometimes they're with Zabini. I don't think they realize they're vacillating between a died-in-the-wool potential DE and someone who is looking for an exit strategy, but Nott probably sees the signs Blaise is sending out as well as I can. SO…he hasn't been using them lately because he probably wants to make sure they don't let anything slip."

"K." Harry felt overwhelmed by all of this info in one quickly spoken paragraph. "Damn but I'm glad I gave you guys the assignment of figuring people out. I would never figure out that kind of detail. You're the only one whose actions or motivations I ever had the ability to watch and figure out." Harry's brow crinkled. "So, you think that Nott might be up to something, and Zabini might be lured to our side." Draco nodded. "Do you think that Zabini will bring Crabbe and Goyle with him? They've been lost without you to follow around all year." This last was said with a bit of a teasing lilt. Harry knew from previous conversations that the alliances within Slytherin were far from the friendships built in Gryffindor. The relationship between Draco, Crabbe and Goyle was complex and wary despite Draco's outward posturing in previous years.

"Actually, I was talking to Crabbe when he was supposed to be guarding for Nott, and I think I might be able to lure them over even without Zabini's help. I'd like not to have to worry about fighting them in battle at some point. I've known them as long as I can remember."

"I'm sorry, Dray, I don't mean to be flip. I know you'd like to win them over. I can't imagine facing old friends on the battlefield. Of course, I suppose I shouldn't take all my dorm mates loyalties for granted. That's what did in my parents."

"It's true you should be careful, Harry. But don't completely lose your trust in people. Too much suspicion will turn you into Moody."

"Or Voldemort."

#

_Sorry for the delay everyone! I was having a bit of writer's block on a section near the end of the story. I have been trying to keep a certain amount of the story as a buffer between what I'm writing and what I'm posting. Often, I find I need to make small changes to a previous section after writing a new scene. I've managed to keep all of the changes to unpublished bits so you guys haven't been confused with multiple versions. The good news is that I have almost completed my story (which ends at the end of the school year) so I should be posting the next section soon. _


	27. Chapter 27

The next morning, Hermione bounded down the girls stairs brandishing a piece of parchment. Harry was the only one in the Common Room this early. They had taken to getting up and going to breakfast together on the weekends since both Ron and Draco were more likely to miss breakfast all together.

"I did it! I did it!"

"You figured out how to get the Map to alert us when people show up on it?" At her quick and happy nod, he smiled brightly back at her. Lower, he continued, "I assume he isn't here now." At her nod, he continued, "Wow, you've only had it for a few weeks. I'm really impressed you figured it out that quickly."

"Yeah, I got lucky last night. I found a book that helped a lot."

"I don't suppose you figured out how to add stuff to it that isn't on the Map, like the Chamber of Secrets or more of the grounds?"

"I have an inkling, but I think it will have to wait until we can get Professor Lupin to answer some questions. It's too complicated for owl post, and I didn't want to ask him about the alarm thing in a letter anyway — so I've only got what I figured out for myself."

"Hmm. Maybe we could convince him to visit the castle for a weekend so you could pick his brain. I haven't seen him for ages even though we've been exchanging letters more regularly since the summer."

"Sounds good. You write him. Should we set up a plan on what to do in case the alarm I set up goes off?"

"We'll do that during breakfast and then ask for everyone else's feedback to see if they have better ideas on the plan.

"OK."

#

A week later, the trip to the Gaunt house — or rather hovel — went much quicker. It wasn't a very large area to search, and with the use of the diadem's connection to the rest of the Horcruxes, it was pretty easy to find. The tricky part was keeping concentration on the levitation spell he was using on the diadem to avoid touching it while under enough of a trance to follow the connection. In only two hours, they had another white case with the ring in it. Both Horcruxes were sent by portkey back to the secure room the diadem had been taken from that morning.

The secure room was really more of a closet accessible from the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore had walked Harry through how to set and unset all of the spells on the door earlier that week. In addition, he had explained a bit about the white cases they were using to protect themselves from accidentally setting off any protective spells on the Horcruxes. The explanation was long and involved and somewhere in the middle of it, Harry got completely lost. What it boiled down to was the material dampened the magic of any object put inside.

Harry was quite glad they had those cases when they found the Horcrux at the Gaunt house. This one was a ring; and for some reason, Dumbledore reached for it. Harry stopped him just before he could touch it when he realized it had been heavily cursed. They didn't even chance levitating it. Instead, they reached forward with the white case and closed it over the ring, trapping it inside without anyone touching or interacting with it magically.

Overall, it was a remarkably successful trip, and Harry got back in time to have lunch in the Great Hall and then nap for a few hours to recover. He got some funny looks since he looked a bit peaky at lunch, but he was able to pass that off as a result of the training with Snape. No one knew exactly what he did in his training sessions, so it was the perfect cover. Luckily, this trip had been so much shorter, so he was completely recovered once he woke from his nap.

The next few weeks would be spent trying to de-curse the diadem and the ring so they could handle them safely, and Harry could hopefully use them to help find the other Horcruxes. That task was given to Snape and Harry. Dumbledore would be doing more research on a cave that he thought young Tom Riddle had visited on a day-trip while still at the orphanage. He thought it was a possible important location for Voldemort to have used to hide another Horcrux. However, the very next weekend, Harry was going to be busy with Remus Lupin discussing the Marauder's Map. Remus had jumped at the chance to visit Harry and his friends and happened to be free of Order business, so he had arranged to stay at the castle for a few days.

#

"So, the Map works like a Pensieve?" Harry, Hermione, and Remus were in the rooms Remus had been given for his visit, and Harry was trying to catch up to the explanations being thrown at him from both of them.

"Not really." Hermione had her mouth open to launch into another explanation.

"Wait. Wait. Both of you talking at me at lightning speed aren't helping. You know I'm not as good at theory work. Let me talk this out a bit — my way."

Both of his companions nodded. Harry rooted in his bag for some parchment and held it up. "So you take the parchment and prepare it to hold all the necessary charms: preservation, mapmaking, animation, password-protection, etc." More nodding. "OK, do you mind if I do a mini-practical here?"

"That's an excellent idea, Harry. I doubt you'll want to practice on the real thing."

Harry cast the spells he had just specified and a few others on a list that Hermione had compiled. "Then, you cast _some_ of the spells on it that are on a Penseive. Specifically, it needs to hold memories." On getting more confirmation, he spoke the spells on his blank sheet of parchment. "This is the part that confuses me. If it's like a Penseive — sort of, how come you just see a two-dimensional map instead of the full-blown Panavision experience?"

"Because it only holds the memories; it doesn't have the charms to project the vision. Also, in a purely physical way, the memories aren't stored in the parchment since it has no bowl, so there is nothing to fall into." Lupin, as usual, knew how to relate things in a way that made sense to Harry.

"I feel like I'm still missing something there, but let's pretend I understand that bit. What's next?"

"Harry, you have to understand it before you can do it." Hermione was horrified.

"Since when? I do magic all the time that I don't understand." Hermione just stared at him. He turned to Remus. "So, next?"

"Well, if you are starting from scratch, you stand at your starting point and think of the surrounding area in minute detail. Next, you pull that memory out and fling it at the parchment with …" Here he fished around in Hermione's notes. "… this incantation and wand motion."

"At that point, it knows what I know of that area, right?" Remus nodded. "How about the people — or am I skipping ahead?"

"No, that's a good next step. The series of charms you need for it to sense the people and creatures in the area you mapped should be applied after you map each section." Again some flipping through Hermione's notes. "That's this series here."

"Hermione, these are copies, right?"

"How did you know I recopied my notes to bring here?"

"Hermione, my anal retentive friend, how long have we been friends and study partners?" Hermione blushed. "So, I'm going to mark these up a bit and put page numbers on them to keep them in the order we should use them in. Remus, you added the spells to this list that she hadn't found yet, right?"

"Yes, that series of charms is now complete and should work. Of course, I'd like to test them out before we use them on the Map just in case my memory is a bit faulty. It has been years, and my notes from when we did this before are long gone."

"Remy, were you the Hermione of the Marauders?" Harry voice was a bit teasing.

Remus was laughing, and thankfully, so was Hermione. "Hardly. Our foursome had a completely different dynamic than you three — or I suppose it is four now. I was quiet and bookish, but I was far from the always-has-the-answers, magically powerful player that Hermione is in your group."

"Do you really think I'm magically powerful, Professor?"

"No reason for the title, Hermione. I haven't been your professor for some time. And, yes, I do. You just don't feel it because you are comparing yourself to Harry, and he's a bit off the charts." Hermione smiled happily.

"Back to the map." Remus and Hermione looked at Harry. "You said if I am starting from scratch. Is it different once you get started?"

"No, that's not it. You just move from place to place and gradually add places to the map as you find its limits. I said that because when you get to making changes to the Marauder's Map, you'll have to do a few things before it will accept you as a mapmaker that can edit it. We set it so only the four of us could, but since I'm here, I should be able to add you to the spells." He pulled out a blank piece of parchment. "Why don't you start practicing those last few sections on your trial map, and I'll start writing out what you'll need to know both now and later if you decide to let someone else into the spells as a mapmaker."

"Wow, this is some serious magic you guys undertook."

"Yes, well, your father and Sirius were a bit too bright and didn't have a friend always in danger from a dark lord that required lots of extra research and training each year. In addition, they were inveterate rule-breakers. So, they channeled all their boredom and cleverness into the perfect tool to help them in their late-night rule breaking. They also tended to be a bit single-minded once an idea got into one of their heads."

For a few minutes, Harry worked with his practice map with Hermione while Remus wrote his notes on the parchment he had taken from the stack. Hermione had started her own practice map so she could also be sure she knew the spells. In a short while, they both had a creditable map of the room they were in and the hallway leading to it. Of course, they only included the living room of the suite Remus was staying in because that was the only room they had seen.

"So, are you saying that one of the four of you had to get into and see every portion of the castle in order to map it?"

"Well, yes, but James and Sirius were a completely fearless with the Invisibility Cloak. They'd set an alarm for themselves and go out with the Map in the middle of the night, and the next morning I would wake up and they had done half of the Slytherin dorms. I'll never know how they got into certain places without being caught. The time they didn't spend on the actual map was spent on locking charms and wards, so they could get in and out of places they didn't belong without anyone's knowledge."

"Well, I don't intend anything like that. I'd like to get the Chamber on it and expand the grounds a bit and maybe a few other corners of the castle they missed."

"You won't be able to map into the Forest or the Room of Requirement. The Room is unplottable, and the Forest just resisted our every effort at mapping it. We all were certainly familiar with it after all the moonlit runs, but nothing we did would work."

"Hermione had already guessed the Room was unplottable, but I was really hoping to get some of the Forest. Darn! Ah well, it's still worth it if we get some of the stuff over here that got skipped and maybe down into Hogsmeade a bit further."

"Hogmeade wasn't a priority for us, so we just never bothered. But, if you are hoping for plenty of warning of Peter's approach, you should see if you can get the full length of the tunnel to Honeyduke's and the other to the Shack mapped. He knows about both and is likely to use them."

"Exactly." Harry held out his parchment with his practice map. "What's next?"

"Well, if you just wanted a map, you'd be done. But, as you know, the map also has a bit of an attitude if someone who doesn't know the password tried to get it to reveal itself." They both chuckled at this memory of Snape being insulted by the Map back in Harry's third year. "The memories mean that it already takes on a bit of personality of the mapmakers. These spells," he extended the ones he had just written out, "not only make it so the map allows you to make changes to it. They also mean that you will be listed in the introduction and the bits of your personality it's gleaned from your memories will be used when someone fools with it."

"Wow, Harry, that's great. You should definitely be the one making the changes to the Map then. It's like a legacy."

"Yeah, but what will I be called? You all have nicknames."

"You can specify at this point," he pointed, "here what your 'personality' should be called."

"Got any suggestions?"

"Don't you have nicknames for each other?"

"Not really. The only people that don't call me by name are usually using names I don't like: boy, freak, Potty, Boy-Who-Lived, etcetera, etcetera."

"Hmmm. Well, I know that Sirius once or twice referred to you as Young Prongs. That might be appropriate with the rest of the introduction."

"Hmmm. I could live with that. It's much better than my other 'names.'"

"Indeed."

#

A bit later, all three of them were standing in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. "Tell me again why you knew about the ghost from the girl's bathroom." Remus was clearly the most uncomfortable with this arrangement.

"It's a long story. The point is, we figured it out, and here's the entrance. For right now, I just want to mark as much as I can get from up here. I'm not prepared to go down there right now. I just figured that this was a good place to start since I _know_ you four didn't know about the Chamber."

"Hmmm."

Harry ignored him and closed his eyes to picture as much detail as he could remember of the tunnel and the room it dropped you into. He pulled the memory out of his head and flung it at the Map in the proscribed manner. They had already done all they needed to make Harry an official mapmaker back in Remus' room. Next, he ran though all the spells to show people and creatures. He didn't really expect to need it for this section of the castle, but Harry wasn't the only Parsalmouth who knew how to get into the Chamber of Secrets, so it wouldn't hurt to be cautious. When he was done, the three of them all looked closely at the changes.

"Harry, what's that you are supposedly saying?" Hermione pointed at the tiny speech bubble that had appeared next to the Harry's figure on the Map.

"It's the password to open the passage. Can neither of you read it?"

"No, it just lines and squiggles."

"Well, to me it looks like English. Sorry. I don't really hear Parsaltongue. It just sounds like snakes are speaking English to me. So, I guess that makes sense."

"I didn't know it was a written language!"

"Actually, Hermione, Parsaltongues used to be valued members of society in Ancient Egypt since they could speak to sacred asps."

"I guess that makes sense. There were snakes on the pharaoh's crown, weren't there?"

"Exactly."

"So, you think that when it was more acceptable, they would have developed a written language?"

"It only makes sense. If I knew a language that only a few others did, I would want to use it for things I wanted to keep secret — like code but without a way to break it."

"Unless the other person who could speak to snakes was the person you most needed to keep your secrets from."

"Yes, I can see why you haven't explored it, Harry. But I wonder if You-Know-Who discovered how to write in Parsaltongue and what he would have written down for himself. "

"Well, if he did, I haven't found it yet. But I'll keep it in mind."

"So, back to the Map: Do you feel like you've got a good grasp of what you need?"

"Yeah, mostly. Can we do another room before I say for sure though?" Remus nodded. "Plus, if we do my training room, Hermione can practice on our practice map. She never saw the Chamber, so she couldn't do this."

By the time they had finished mapping the passage to the special training room the Headmaster had set aside for Snape and Harry's use early in the year, Harry and Hermione were both feeling more confident of the necessary spells. Remus, on the other hand, was wondering how much of the castle he and his friends had missed. He had never seen this room or the hallway leading to it, and Harry had to stop and map a few times to get the various passages leading to it.

"I want to check the opening and closing to make sure I didn't foul anything up."

"Harry, I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong. Relax."

"I'll still feel better after I do it."

"OK."

Harry tapped the map and wiped it with a quick "Mischief managed." It worked just as it always did before. Next, he tapped it and said, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

_Meesrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs,  
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers  
are proud to present_

The Marauder's Map

_With special help from Young Prongs_

Harry looked down as the map of Hogwarts unfolded before him. It was really amazing. And now he was a part of it. He hoped the mapmakers would continue to allow him to use their map for entirely non-mischief purposes.

_*Wording of the Map's intro is, of course, taken directly from PofA_

#

Approximately a week and a half later, Harry was reading his Transfiguration textbook in his room during one of his turns 'watching' the Map when the alarm went off. It sounded a little like a particularly annoying alarm clock getting louder the longer he ignored it. He didn't recognize the sound at first and had taken a few minutes to realize it wasn't one of his roommates alarms set incorrectly for PM instead of AM. Once he realized, he pulled out the map and activated it. He found the blinking figure in one of the lower corridors. Harry quickly scanned for other people in his vicinity and wasn't entirely surprised to see Theo Nott lingering in the same corridor. Shortly, their figures came into closer contact, and neither moved for a few minutes.

Was he just here for the meeting with Nott? Harry didn't think so.

Harry watched the meeting while he reviewed the plan. It was built around a few assumptions: They knew that if confronted him directly, Peter would run before they could get close. He also knew that Pettigrew was supposed to be spying on them specifically. So, they had to convince him to wait around. The plan had been for he and Ron to walk out of the common room having an intriguing, yet entirely useless, conversation. In the meantime, Hermione would be disillusioned and using the map to figure out exactly where Pettigrew was and setting a trap for him. But Hermione wasn't in the Tower right now, and Harry would prefer not to interrupt her Occlumency practice with Snape. But, they needed a third person. How could he get Draco here without wasting too much time? Of course — the marks!

Wormtail had broken away from Nott and was on his way up some back passages and heading upstairs.

Harry tapped out Draco's initials in Morse code onto his palm with his wand. They had quickly learned that the marks could be a useful means of communication and most of them had memorized the Morse alphabet in case they needed it. He tapped out DM and then paused for 10 seconds and then tapped again. After the third iteration, he felt a retuning pulse acknowledging his call. He spelled out Gryf T ASAP QT. He thought that was pretty clear and he hoped he didn't panic him too badly. The only part he wasn't sure he would get was the quietly part. He hoped Draco understood that he wasn't to be seen and would Disillusion himself. In a perfect universe, Pettigrew wouldn't know Draco was even on the same floor as Ron and Harry. If not, they would just alter the plan somewhat. Harry hurried down to recruit Ron.

Within a few minutes, they were set up in a corner of the common room with the map open to the corridor outside the Fat Lady's portrait. Harry hadn't explained much because he knew he would have to do it all over again once Draco got there. He just said, "Scabbers," and pointed at the Map. Ron knew immediately what was going on and followed Harry into the corner they now occupied. Harry saw Draco approach and pointed to him for Ron's benefit. "Stay here," he said and got up to open the door before Draco could knock. He was delighted to see nothing. "Come on, Ron, aren't you ready yet?" he enunciated into the corridor. "Oh, all right. 5 minutes. But you know we have that meeting, and we can't be late. You know how Snape is when we're late." He felt a brush of robes as Draco slid past him into the common room, and Harry closed the door.

Hopefully, that set the trap. Now, they just had to spring it at the right time. He hurried over to the corner where Ron was still waiting for him. He tugged on his ear and sort of looked significantly around the common room. Some really simple spells would still sometimes go wonky for Harry, especially when he was under pressure. Luckily, Ron caught on right away that Harry wanted a Silencing spell without anyone noticing. Once that was set, Harry looked to the spot where he guessed Draco would be. Just then, Harry felt a hand on his knee. With this confirmation, he now knew where to look and could mostly see him. Harry quickly reviewed the plan. Ron and he would go out and walk away from the Tower toward an unoccupied hallway. They would pretend to be heading to a meeting with Snape and talk about just enough to keep Wormtail hopefully interested. Draco would have gone into the hallway under Harry's cloak and located Pettigrew on the Map. None of them really knew what Disillusioning the Map would do to it, so they didn't want to chance it.

Once he made sure that Wormtail was following them, he would go ahead to an unused classroom and set anti-Animagus wards on the whole room. Hermione had found some useful spells, but they could only be used within a small space. Plus, they couldn't force everyone in the castle to not be able to take an Animagus form if they had one. So, once Draco set the wards, if Wormtail entered the room, he would be forced into his human form. All they had to do was stun him before he had a chance to realize what was happening.

Wormtail was now running along corridor outside Gryffindor tower, hugging the wall. His short little rodent legs couldn't carry him upstairs as quickly as Draco could walk. Plus, he was stuck with the back passages where no one would remark on a stray rat. Periodically, he stopped and looked around. Undoubtedly, he was hoping to find a way inside. In a castle this old, there was bound to be plenty of ways a small rat could wriggle his way wherever he wanted to go.

In no time, Draco was in the hallway and signaling that he had found Wormtail's hiding place. It appeared that he had taken the bait and was waiting for Ron and Harry to come out and head to their meeting. Harry and Ron walked out already talking.

"Come on, Ron." Harry attempted to sound impatient. "That was way longer than 5 minutes."

"Aw, Harry, what do we want to meet with the greasy git outside of class for anyway?"

"You know he's on our side, Ron. He could have some really useful information for us. It could be important to, you know." He looked significantly at Ron as if they didn't want to talk about specifics in the corridor.

"Yeah, yeah. That doesn't make him any less of a pain in the ass. Honestly, I think I liked it better when he was reporting to You-Know-Who."

"Ron, watch your mouth. You never know who might hear us out here in the corridor."

"Alright, alright." By this time, they were about 30 meters down the hall, and they had apparently picked up a shadow as they both got the agreed upon signal, RT for rat trap.

"Now, let's just get to the classroom, OK?"

"Yeah, OK." Ron sounded genuinely reluctant. It was a shame, really, that Hogwarts didn't have a theatre program. He was sure Ron could have gotten a staring role. They walked in silence for a moment until they got another signal. This time, it was SLOW. Apparently, they were getting too close, and Draco wasn't ready for them. Harry decided to stick with a simple delaying tactic.

"Ron, hold up a second. My shoe's coming untied." He paused and bent down to retie his shoe as slowly as he could manage. When they started walking again, he just had to hope that bought them enough time. He didn't have long to worry as the next signal came through clearly, OK. Shortly after that, they were entering the classroom. They weren't sure exactly where Draco or Pettigrew were, so they kept up the pretense.

"See, we're early. He isn't even here yet." Ron pouted as they entered the room and closed the door behind them. Almost immediately, they took out their wands and started to scan the room for any sign of a re-emerging Pettigrew. They didn't have to wait long and both of them spun toward the small movement in the back corner. Apparently, Peter had found a small hole to come in through the wall rather than coming in under the door. As soon as he started to turn back into his human form, they both stunned him. They wanted to make sure he didn't have a chance to grab his wand or signal anyone in anyway. Once he was on the ground and unconscious, Draco whipped off the cloak and magically bound him and summoned his wand. Next, Ron and Draco headed to the dungeon room that had been prepared as Pettigrew's prison with Wormtail's body draped in the invisibility cloak floating behind them like luggage. Harry headed to the potions classroom where Snape's and Hermione were having their Occlumency tutorial to let them know what was going on. He was sure they had felt the pulsing in their marks but was glad to see that they had let them go about their plan while they continued with their work. It would have really ruined things if Snape and Hermione had come storming along demanding explanations at the wrong moment.

#

_Here's a nice long chapter for you all. I'm pretty sure I'll be putting up the rest of the story shortly. Yes, the end is in sight! BTW – check out the one shot I just posted, The Four Elements. It's completely unrelated to this story but I hope you like it._


	28. Chapter 28

With 15 minutes, they were all congregated in Snape's office while Pettigrew cooled his heels down the hall. There were a number of safeguards in place to keep Pettigrew from getting out, changing back into a rat, or using magic at all. In addition, they had left Crookshanks as a sort of guard. Really, he was more for the intimidation factor. Now, they were filling in Snape and Hermione. Harry looked significantly at Snape, and he nodded his head.

"All right. All of you but Harry will go back to what you were doing. Harry and I will be speaking to Pettigrew. We want to keep this as simple as possible so the Obliviate works effectively."

The rest of the group looked dissatisfied to not be included in the interrogation but not mutinous. They were all mature enough to see the logic of having Pettigrew not come into contact with them too much and to accept being excluded.

#

The interrogation had gone quite well. Snape had sufficient time since realizing Wormtail might be around to cook up a new batch of Veritaserum so they didn't need to rely on the iffy power of the life-debt.

"So, he knew nothing useful about the Horcruxes?" Dumbledore looked disappointed.

"No, Albus. He didn't recognize the word. He visited no places of interest on the trip back from Albania before the resurrection and nothing since. He also has no memories of objects that the Dark Lord thought significant."

"Well, I suppose we will have to do it the hard way."

"But he did have some useful information."

"Indeed?"

"It seems that in the absence of another scapegoat, young Nott is getting punished for the failure at the Ministry at the end of last year. Lucius was the leader, but Draco and Narcissa are now out of his reach. Nott Sr. was stunned by Hermione in the battle and is currently in Azkaban. Nott Jr. is dedicated to the cause and relatively clever, so the Dark Lord is taking advantage of his desire to be accepted by telling him he must prove himself first. It seems that during the Christmas holidays, he was given the task of getting a contingent of Death Eaters into the castle without raising the alarms. The Death Eaters are hoping to kill you, kidnap Mr. Malfoy and myself, and generally spread panic and chaos."

"Isn't that rather a large task to give to one so young?"

"Yes, but if he fails, the Dark Lord will only have a better excuse not to spring his father from prison and punish Theo. He will be made an example. Plus, someone who is here every day is more likely to learn how to breach the protections than someone like Wormtail. Pettigrew, apparently, has been tasked with the job of checking up on Nott every month or so. He takes those opportunities to sniff around and find out anything else he can while he is here."

"Does he know how young Mr. Nott hopes to get his companions into the castle?"

"No, Nott is being stubbornly close-lipped at this time. However, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasely had already begun watching him closely because he was acting suspiciously. They report that he seems to be doing something in the Room of Requirement. Unfortunately, that hardly narrows things down considering the Room could be anything for him."

"Yes. That is distressingly open-ended." Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a few minutes.

Harry had been quiet before this and just watched the adults discuss the issue. Suddenly he had an idea. "What if Nott is using the Room the way that young Tom Riddle did — as a place to hide something?"

"If he is, whatever he is working on would be in that towering room of trash. How could we possibly find the object of interest?"

"There must be a way, gentlemen. Or rather, I think you two should try to figure out a way. Ask for help from the rest of your group. This is more pressing than the Horcruxes at this time. We must keep Hogwarts as a safe haven."

"Yes, Headmaster."

"We'll get right on it, Albus."

"Before you go, I wanted to let you know that the Board has reluctantly agreed to the summer school plan. I know you won't have much free time, but you should let Ron and Draco know that they can begin recruiting people with confidence."

"That's great news, sir. I'll let them know."

#

"Hermione, do you think there's a way to make the Map tell us whenever a certain person goes down a certain hallway?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe. What specifically are you looking for?"

"Have you heard about Nott?"

"Ron told me he was up to something, but he and Draco aren't sure what yet."

Harry looked at Snape and continued once he got a nod telling him he could go forward. They had called a meeting of their full group, and Snape seemed content to let Harry explain the information they had gotten out of Pettigrew. "Well, we now know what he's up to in general terms."

"Pettigrew?"

"Yup. Nott's been told by Voldemort that if he wants to regain Voldemort's favor for his family, he'll figure out a way to get the Death Eaters into Hogwarts so they can kidnap Professor Snape and Draco."

Hermione gasped. Ron stiffened. But Draco betrayed no outward emotion. "Has he taken the Mark yet?"

"No. According to Wormtail, he wants to, but this task is being billed as a sort of test."

"Did Pettigrew know how or when?"

"No, Nott won't share the details of his plan. Pettigrew isn't sure if Nott has a plan or if he's just stalling for time. Voldemort's given him until the end of the school year, but they don't have a target date as far as he knows."

"So, I guess you're hoping to know when he visits the Room of Requirement so we can try to figure out what he's doing in there."

Harry turned back to Hermione to answer her question. He'd worry about Draco's lack of reaction later when they were alone. "Well, I'd like to figure out what he's doing in there, but you can't get in while the Room is occupied if the person inside doesn't want you to. BUT … if we haven't figured out a way to stop him by the time he figures it out and his plan is based in that Room, I'd like some warning. It could be any time from tomorrow to the last day of school, so I thought that with an alarm every time he went down that corridor, we could at least keep an eye on him. He has no reason to be on the seventh floor for classes, so I doubt he goes there except to visit the Room."

"I'll look into it and try a few things on that practice map we made up when Professor Lupin was here."

"Great." Harry turned to Snape. "Any other ideas?"

"Yes, I thought we could use next weekend while most of the students will be out of the castle and down in Hogsmeade to conduct a field trip up to the Room as we saw it with all of the discarded and hidden objects in it. Perhaps someone will see something or come up with an idea. It is, at least, a place to start."

In response to the puzzled looks of the rest of the group, Harry tried to explain without telling them anything about the Horcruxes. "We were training one day, and I mistakenly conjured up this room full of stuff. It looks like hundreds of years of things that people had thrown away or hidden was all there. We were thinking that if Nott asked for a room to keep whatever he's working on hidden, he might have gotten the same room."

"He could be doing almost anything in there."

"Ron, we have to at least give it a shot. It's better than doing nothing."

"I also want the all of you to try to think of other possibilities. If you had to get a large group of intruders into the castle, how would you do it? Think about it and have some ideas ready for next time if you can. You four can gather in the Gryffindor Common Room next weekend. Wait until everyone has left, check the Map, and let me know when it's clear for me to meet you outside the Room of Requirement. You can use the messaging system on the marks on our palms as you did when you were planning Pettigrew's capture."

"Yes, sir."

#

"OK, let's start with various kinds of magical transportation." The four were sitting in a corner of the Gryffindor Common Room within a silencing bubble, and Hermione, as usual, was functioning as the organizer.

"Broom," Ron supplied.

"We'd see them coming," Draco countered.

"Not if they were invisible. They could land on the Astronomy Tower and creep down from there."

Harry interjected, "If that were possible, why does Voldemort need Nott?"

"True. Well, we'll keep it as a possibility. I'm taking notes, but they will only be visible to me because of the warding I'm using. What's next?" Herminone prodded.

"Apparition. But, we all know you can't Apparate within Hogwarts. I don't think any 6th year could pull down those wards," Draco stated.

Ron continued, "How about Floo. If you told the room you really needed to Floo somewhere, would it provide one?"

"I don't know. I would think the Headmaster would have some way of protecting against that. His office is the only room in the castle that can be Flooed into. The other ones can be used for communication but not transportation."

"Hermione, are you going to tell me that's in Hogwarts, A History?" Harry was surprised.

"No, Harry, but you'd be surprised what you can find out in Prefect meetings — if you pay attention."

"OK, so I'll make a mental note to talk to the Headmaster about that, and we also experiment a bit with the Room of Requirement."

"If you could just call up a Floo, why would he be visiting the room repeatedly?" Ron pointed out.

"Point." Hermione paused. "Maybe he got a fireplace or even a Floo that can be used for communication, and he's trying to learn how to make it into a Floo for transportation."

"That's possible, but if Dumbledore really has some kind of wards in place, he would probably have them set to alert him to anyone making an existing Floo into one that could transport or at the very least alert him if there were any arrivals by Floo," Draco pointed out.

"Yeah, but if it's the second, then we would find out after they were already here, and that's not good enough. The Headmaster told Snape and me to try to prevent this, and that's what I intend to do."

"Hermione, how do you make Portkeys?" Ron asked.

"Well, I haven't researched it thoroughly —"

"Meaning you haven't read every book in the library that covers the topic?" Ron laughed as he asked his question.

"Ha, very ha. As I was saying, I understand that you need to have a thorough knowledge of the destination. There's a spell, obviously, but it's complicated. I don't think they're easy to make or more people would do it more often."

"Well, the Ministry does regulate them."

Draco spoke up, "Yeah, but Hermione's right. If it was easy or there were no blocks to it, Voldemort would just make a couple for Hogwarts and invade when he wanted. Again, what does he need Nott for?"

"Well, I think this is something else I need to discuss with the Headmaster. Because if the problem is that there is something in the wards that won't allow it, Nott could be working on a way around them. If we don't know about how the wards work, we can't assume that there isn't some advantage to being here when you cast the spell that he is taking advantage of."

"OK. What else?" Hermione said as she made some notes.

"Those are the major means of magical transportation. I mean, you could use carpets or dragons or thestrals instead of brooms; but they have the same drawbacks as brooms, so there's no need to list them." Harry heard Ron's hesitation before he mentioned the thestrals and it appeared he wasn't the only one dealing with painful memories of last year for a minute.

Draco, however, was unaffected by the collective musing of the rest of the group. "Well, I don't have any great insights yet. After all, he just dropped this bomb on us a few hours ago. I might come up with something better after I have some time to think on it or after I see this junk room of Harry's. It's good to get the obvious stuff out of the way so we don't all waste too much on them."

"OK, so should we reconvene to discuss again before this weekend, or should we have the next brainstorming session with Professor Snape?"

"It's only a couple of days. Let's just meet this weekend. 'Mione, can you work on the map again and see if you can get it to alert us when Nott get near the Room. Ron and Draco, I'm counting on your strategic brains to some up with some ideas. I'll talk to Dumbledore about the wards. Everyone OK with their assignment?" Nods all around. "Great. Let's get back to homework then."

#

The trip to the Hidden Things Room — as Harry had started calling it — that Saturday hadn't yielded any new ideas. They walked through the room for close to an hour, but nobody noticed anything significant. Of course, you could walk through that room for two days and not see everything in it.

"Draco, I want to go back up the Hidden Things Room. I know, I know, we spent an hour there yesterday, but I just can't shake the feeling I'm missing something obvious."

"OK."

"I'd like you to come with me, but if you'd prefer not, I can take Ron or Hermione."

"What are you insinuating?"

"You've been … off about this since we found out about what Nott was doing and why. I thought it might be hitting too close to home for some reason. I don't see any reason to rub salt in your wound."

"Don't be silly; I'm fine."

"Draco, I know what I've been seeing. You've been trying so hard not to show whatever you've been feeling that you've been too unemotional. I haven't seen the Malfoy mask this much for months."

"…"

"Draco, you don't have to tell me what's bothering you if you don't want to. I know better than to push. I'd like to hear about it because I think that talking would help you deal with whatever-it-is, but that's your choice. All I want to know right now is if you'd rather I ask Ron or Hermione to go back to The Room with me when I head there after lunch."

"OK." Draco bit his lip and looked down. "I appreciate you not pushing, and you're right, I don't want to talk about it or even think about it. But, trying to figure out what is going on doesn't make it worse. Why don't we head over there now before lunch?"

"You're sure?" At Draco's nod, Harry continued, "This isn't just some Malfoy stoicism thing?"

Draco smiled. "Yeah, I'm sure."

Five minutes later, Harry was walking back and forth across from the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy. When the door appeared, he and Draco headed in.

"OK. I had this feeling even before Saturday. So, I'm going to try to remember where I walked the first time I was here."

"Makes good sense."

"Basically, I want you here because I'm going to be using a trance state to remember that day more clearly, and I don't like doing that without someone around to pull me out if something goes wrong. Plus, we can always pretend we came here to snog if anyone asks what we were doing." Harry smirked at Draco. "Just keep quiet and walk behind me. If I stop somewhere and don't seem to come out of it for 15 minutes, try to wake me. If that doesn't work, get the Professor."

"I'm on the job. Lead on."

Harry closed his eyes and sunk into the trance state he used to awaken his magic sense. He tried to picture that day when he was following the trail to the Ravenclaw horocrux. He saw the hallway in his head then opened his eyes and looked for the same landmarks in the real life room and started walking. On and on they walked. Then, Harry saw it — both in his mind and in real life. The vanishing cabinet. He came up to full consciousness with a start.

"That's it. It's the vanishing cabinet."

"But, it's broken."

"So, he's been trying to fix it! How much do you want to bet the matching one is that cabinet at Borgin & Burkes?"

"What were you doing there?"

"I got misdirected on the floo. Then, you and your father came in, and I hid in a cabinet against the wall. It looked just like this. If Nott gets them working, that would be the perfect way to get a large number of Death Eaters in the castle."

"Yeah, I somehow doubt there's a ward against vanishing cabinets. They're really rare. Is this the one that Montague got lost in last year?"

"I assumed as much when I first saw it. How many can there be in the castle?"

"Well, if there is another one, that might disprove your theory about its match being at Borgin & Burkes."

"Point." Harry stood looking at the spot contemplatively. "Well, either way, this was the thing that was nagging at me. Let's go talk to Hermione and ask her to do some research on vanishing cabinets. Then, we'll ask Professor Snape what he knows about the incident with Montague last year. We can at least look into this as a viable option."

"OK." As they headed toward the door, Draco said, "How about you go and talk to Hermione, and I go and talk to Professor Snape. Then, we can meet in the dining hall. It will be a little less obvious if we don't both go tromping up to Gryffindor and then back down to the dungeons and then back up to the Entrance Hall. Just in case we are being watched, we don't want Nott to think we figured anything out."

Harry opened the door and they both stepped out. "Perfect." Harry reached over and grabbed Draco by the collar and kissed him hard on the lips. "Don't be long, love. I'll see you at lunch in just a few minutes."

Draco looked a bit surprised by the PDA. That wasn't Harry's usual style. However, Harry was feeling a bit high on the sudden discovery. He justified it to himself as a way to further their story of snogging in the Room of Requirement. Yeah, that was it.

#

They soon found out that vanishing cabinets were remarkably rare and that Professor Snape remembered seeing a possibly matching cabinet at Borgin & Burkes as well. In addition, Snape confirmed that Montague had indeed been stuffed in a non-functioning vanishing cabinet and disappeared for some time last year. That, at least, was the best the teachers could piece together after he showed up again. Snape was fairly certain that Filch had been told to dispose of the cabinet. They assumed that he had taken the shortcut of asking the room for a place where he could get rid of it and/or hide it and Nott had somehow found out and decided to take advantage. There was a chance that Filch purposefully aided Nott with or without the knowledge of what he planned to use it for, but that wasn't the most important consideration.

They now had a working theory on what Nott was doing the Rom of Requirement, but they still wanted better confirmation before they spent all of their time working on countering this particular scenario. Thus, Harry and Professor Snape took their extra lesson in the room that Friday, and Harry spent some time studying the look and feel of the cabinet both magically and more mundanely. In addition, Harry lifted some perfectly Muggle fingerprints after Hermione looked up the technique and had her parents send a child's toy detective set (much like a magic kit) that included the supplies needed. They would compare them to Nott's after they figured out a way to get him to touch something where they could be certain his would be the only prints on the object. Lastly, Professor Snape set up some magical and mundane 'tells' that would show that someone had touched it or attempted to alter it magically the next time they came to look in on it.

After that, they changed the room they were in by telling the room they now needed something else and went about their usual lesson. Today, they were working on the curses left on the Horcruxes. They wanted to make them safe to the touch while they waited to destroy the bit of soul until they had all of them. They were using some of the more ordinary methods that Bill had showed them to diagnose things as well as Harry's magic sight. They recorded the results of the diagnostics in case they needed to ask for outside assistance. Then, Harry tried to alter the curses using his special skills.

At the end of the shortened session, Harry and Snape were both fairly convinced that the diadem was safe but the ring was still heavily bespelled. Presumably, the younger Tom Riddle did not have a chance to put any heavy enchantments on the diadem since he couldn't linger long in the castle after being dismissed by Dumbledore after the job interview. After all, even the Riddle in the diary mentioned that Dumbledore kept an "annonyingly close watch" on him after the Chamber of Secrets incident.

They put the diadem and ring back in their safe boxes even though the diadem was now safe to the touch. None of them knew the long-term effects of close contact with a Horcrux, let alone a Horcrux with Voldemort's soul in it. They marked the diadem as uncursed just in case and put them back in Dumbledore's secret hidey-hole. Harry would do a little research and thinking about the curses on the ring and see if he could some up with a solution before their next meeting. In the meantime, he had to get to Transfiguration.

#


	29. Chapter 29

"Harry."

"Hmmm?" After a minute with no answer, Harry looked up from his Charms text. He was lying on his stomach in Draco's room. Draco, who couldn't understand how Harry could work in that position, was sitting at his desk. "What's up, Draco?"

"I …" Draco lowered his eyes in a moment of very unusual lack of aplomb. "I wanted to say thank you for giving me a chance this year. Sometimes I think it's only because of you that I'm not in Nott's place."

"I don't know that I can take your thanks because that's not true. You changed lots all on your own this year. I didn't give you that chance in a vacuum."

"I suppose."

"There's no 'suppose' about it. You didn't take the absence of your father as an opportunity to go to Voldemort to gain his favor. You took the opportunity to think on your own and come to your own conclusions. You formed a truce with me in DADA. You confessed all that stuff to me to help me understand you. You met me more than halfway." Harry got a shrug in response. "Draco!"

"I don't know. Ever since I heard about Nott, I've been all messed up inside."

"None of this is your fault, you know."

"Harry, I'm not a Gryffindor. I'm not all twisted up in misplaced guilt. That's your forte. I just keep thinking how I could have ended up in his place. After all, both of our fathers were at the Ministry last year. I'm sure you guys would have picked me as the most likely Death Eater in training last year."

"Yeah, we would have." He waited until Draco's somewhat hurt eyes me his. "But that was last year. You made different choices this year, and you changed. We noticed the changes in you even before that first confessional of yours. You had stopped constantly trying to start trouble and be insulting."

"Yeah, I did, and you noticed because that was a big change in my behavior. Nott could have had a change of heart, and you wouldn't have noticed since he's always been so quiet."

"Draco, stop second guessing. You made deliberate choices that put you in the position you are in. He made decisions that put him in the situation he is in. We can't know what would have happened if Jackson hadn't thrown us together or you hadn't extended a hand in truce. I can't guess how I would have reacted if Nott had approached me and tried to start a friendship. What has happened already cannot be changed, and we can only deal with things as they are."

"True."

"Come on, snap out of it. You're a Slytherin. You're supposed to be more realistic than this. Stop brooding and come down here and kiss me, stupid."

"Kiss you stupid? That shouldn't take long."

"Ah-ah-ah." Harry wagged his finger back and forth and pretended to look chastising. "You really are stupid if you think that I would let you get away with that." Harry leapt up and tackled Draco, tickling him until all the shadows were gone from his now luminous grey eyes.

#

The next Friday, Harry and Snape took their extra lesson in the ROR again. Hermione had already confirmed that the majority of the fingerprints on the cabinet were the same as the ones she got off the otherwise-pristine potions phial Snape had maneuvered Nott into grabbing. When they got to the Room, they got further proof of Nott's plan when all the traps that Snape had set indicated someone had tampered with the cabinet in the interim. In addition, Harry's extra special senses told him Nott's magic (which he had made a point of familiarizing himself with over the past week by as much close contact as he could get away with) was all over the cabinet.

Harry and Snape decided they needed to meet with the rest of the group to form a plan. Since the four students would be in the potions lab helping to restock the Infirmary tomorrow morning, they could easily spell the rooms for privacy and work on the plan while they worked. If that didn't work, they had the rest of the day after the potions were made to meet and discuss plans. For once, Professor Snape had no meetings — either with students or fellow teachers — to work around. In the meantime, Harry and Snape got back to de-spelling the ring Horcrux.

"You cannot just tell me to trust you and expect me to step back and let you do such dangerous magic without taking precautions. The paperwork when a student dies is horrendous."

Harry smirked up at Snape. "Well, if only to spare you the paperwork, I'll let you put up the shielding spells. But, you need to make sure not to use that one from earlier. I couldn't see the spells on the ring for all the magic in the shields. Maybe we could use a weaker magical shield, and I could put on body armor or something to complement it."

"Not a bad idea. Of course, I don't have any body armor handy …"

"How about my Quidditch gear and some dragon hide in strategic places? I'm sure the twins have full suits in dragon hide, so I'm sure I could acquire something like that for next time."

"Hmmm. I do have a smock, face guard, and gloves for when I'm dealing with particularly nasty potions ingredients. They are not only dragon hide but also spelled to add extra protections. As they wouldn't be hanging in the air in front of you, I don't think the spells would interfere with what you are seeing on the ring as much."

"Excellent! Can we please try that? I'm sure that if I called, Dobby would be glad to go fetch your stuff." At Snape's nod, Harry called for Dobby and asked him to get the protective gear. Snape gave him specifics about where to find them in a surprisingly gentle and respectful tone.

"Don't look so surprised, Harry. I only had to watch Malfoy mistreat his elves once before I realized that it was ridiculous to mistreat someone or something that one was so dependent on."

"And the fact that you might have related to being the victim of a bully had nothing to do with that?" Harry was careful not to sound mocking, but he realized as Snape's face closed up that he had crossed a line. Obviously, the Potions Master had no wish to discuss his personal history.

"THAT is none of your business."

"Yes, sir. Sorry."

At about that moment, Dobby popped back in, and the tension quickly dissipated as Snape and Harry went immediately back to making sure Harry was safe enough if he accidentally got hit with a curse. Within a few minutes, Harry was in his trance-state and manipulating the curses and protections Voldemort had placed on the ring. At times like this, deep within the castle and buried from outside light and air and earth, he sometimes found it harder to manage a semi-conscious trance and even sometimes felt himself pull on the energy in the pendent he had made for himself. He came out of the trance and registered that Snape was still standing near him but mostly behind the barricade they had set up for him. He was watching carefully with his wand out ready to snap a shield around Harry if anything looked like it was going to blow.

"I think that did it. How long was I out?"

"Two hours."

"Wow. Time really has very little meaning when I'm like that. How do you stay so alert just watching?"

"Years of practice being on the alert while in the Dark Lord's presence do wonders for your stamina."

"I'm awfully glad I get to do this job instead of yours — either then or now. As you know, I don't do inaction well."

"Perhaps that is something we will work on in a future training session. In the meantime, let's see what my more rudimentary scans show on the ring."

Fifteen minutes later, they were packing the ring back into its protective box. They were both pretty sure the curses had all been deactivated or removed, but they never forgot that it would still have a bit of Voldemort's soul in it. Who knew what long-term exposure to that would do to someone?

"Sir, has Dumbledore agreed to put a hold on our field trip until whatever Nott is planning happens?"

"Yes, I did convince him that it would not be wise for all three of us to be absent from the castle. He, of course, thought the most logical solution was for him to go on the field trip on his own, but his near miss with this ring pointed out to him why a solitary person should not conduct these outings. Since he does not want to let anyone else in on the secret of what we are hunting, that left him with little option. If Nott's plan is not hatched until the end of the year, we may have a field trip or two this summer."

"Good. I had this nightmare scenario in my head of all the Death Eaters coming on a night when all three of us were out, and Ron, Hermione, and Draco would have to try to fight them off without us. It could've been really bad."

"Indeed."

#

The next day, Snape sat and marked papers while Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Draco made potions. Today was the fourth day they had 'given' to Snape for Christmas (two days right before the end of the holidays, once in mid-February, and today), so they had a routine of sorts down. Harry was preparing his ingredients with part of his brain on the question of what to do about Nott and the cabinet. Harry's potions-making skills would never be on par with Draco or Hermione, but he had achieved a level of comfort with it that meant he knew he wasn't going to make any serious mistakes even if he wasn't giving the chopping, dicing, gutting, and slicing his full attention.

When Harry had told the rest of the gang the plan, both Hermione and Draco had been adamant that any planning be done after the potions were made. Neither of them wanted the distraction of a strategy session while making potions nor the distraction of potions-making while having a strategy session. He could see their logic, but he knew himself well enough to know that he would be worrying at the Nott issue whether they were discussing it aloud or not and so hadn't seen the distraction as an issue.

"Hey, Harry, where are you?" That was Hermione's hand on his shoulder.

"Hmmm?"

"I just called your name twice, and you didn't respond. Were you practicing your meditation?"

"Oh, really?" Harry paused for a moment to digest the second part of what she said. "No, I was just thinking."

"Well, don't think too hard, or you might crush those beetles too fine."

"Don't worry, they're still a ways away from that." Harry moved his mortar to show her the contents of his pestle. "30 grams, right?"

"Yeah. And I came over here to let you know that we don't have to make the burn paste; so after you're done those, we don't need anything else. I might ask you to help me finish this Pepper-up, but that's it."

"Great. I guess not as many people got burnt in Potions as we guessed."

"More like Hagrid hasn't done any creatures that breathe fire since first term."

Harry just gave a small giggle and went back to grinding beetles. This time, he made an effort to stay in the moment since he knew he would be done soon.

A bit later, all of their potions were bottled and labeled and their stations were cleaned. Snape would deliver the potions later after inspecting them carefully to ensure they were all done correctly. As the Potions Master for the school, he was responsible for all potions given out in the Infirmary whether he made them personally or not.

"Can we have this chat somewhere more comfortable? I'd like a more comfortable chair and wouldn't say no to a snack." Draco hadn't eaten much lunch since the smell from the potions put him off food for the most part. However, unlike Harry, Draco wasn't used to skipping meals. Harry would guess from the tone of his voice that he was in desperate need of fuel. His tone had not yet reached whine, but Harry knew his boyfriend well enough to know he was getting there, so he quickly suggested a solution.

"We could use the training room, or I could conjure us something more comfortable here. One of us can go down to the kitchens for some sandwiches and tea."

"No need for that. We can use my sitting room. It's nearby, and we'll only have to conjure or transfigure a few chairs."

"Yes, sir."

Harry had a feeling that Professor Snape knew Draco well enough to recognize an imminent low-on-sugar mood swing as well as Harry did, or he wouldn't have offered his private room. Until that moment, Harry hadn't even known that Snape had a sitting room. Hopefully, he hadn't decorated his personal quarters with jars of strange-looking ingredients like he had in his office. They were ushered into a surprisingly normal looking room just a moment later. The stone walls were covered in bookshelves, and two high-backed chairs in neutral colors sat by the fire. Each had a small wooden table to the side, and one table had a well-thumbed potions journal on top of it.

"Harry, can you handle the seating?" With this instruction, Snape knelt by the fire and called the kitchens and placed an order for an early tea for five. By the time he was finished, Harry had conjured a duplicate of the two chairs and a larger table to put in the center of the circle of chairs and Ron was moving the chairs a bit to make room for a fifth chair. In short order, they were all settled down, and Snape was catching everyone up on the information he and Harry had confirmed the day before.

"Hold that thought." He directed the last remark at Ron who had his mouth open to ask a question and turned to the fireplace to fetch the tray that was floating there and place it on the center table. "Help yourselves everyone. Now, where were we?"

"I was just about to ask whether we were going to let Nott fix the cabinet and deal with the invasion or if we were going to sabotage him?"

"That is the central question we have to answer before we can decide on our next step. Opinions?" He opened up the discussion by making eye contact with all of them. Harry was fairly certain he had a strong opinion, but he had learned that these four students sometimes saw things from a different perspective. Snape was nothing if not deliberate; and before making such a decision, he would want to make sure to take every perspective into account.

#

Harry wasn't surprised when the decision was made to let Nott fix the cabinet and try to foil the attack. The deciding factor was when Draco pointed out that if they sabotaged the cabinet, Nott would just find another way to get the Death Eaters in that they didn't know about beforehand — or he would at least try to. At least this way, they knew what to expect to a certain extent and could plan.

Assuming the Headmaster approved of their plan, they were going to keep a watch for Wormtail and intercept him after his meeting with Nott. They were hoping to find out from him when Nott was ready before he had a chance to report to Voldemort as well as after Voldemort set a date and time for the attack and (presumably) sent Wormtail back to tell Nott those details. They knew this was relying a lot on chance, so they were also planning on watching Nott and checking in on the ROR periodically. Lastly, they were going to work on some other way of letting them know the instant the Death Eaters set foot in the castle in case all other avenues didn't work. Hermione was looking at more charms for the Marauder's Map; Harry was going to talk to the house elves; and Snape would ask for the Headmaster's help in recruiting the paintings. Ron and Draco were going to concentrate on watching Nott and recruiting as many people for the summer school as possible in the hopes of making it harder for Nott to recruit help.

In the meantime, they were going to plan how to ambush the Death Eaters when they did arrive. They had a rough plan using Harry's transformation-charms ability to funnel them in the direction they wanted them to go and WWW products to slow them down. The location had to be isolated from the students and yet accessible to those people who wanted to fight the Death Eaters. Also, it had to be deep in the heart of the castle so there was no escape out windows or doors. An isolated room would also be easier to make Portkey-proof. In addition, they were hoping to recruit some help and station people or elves along the route to take as many people out of the equation as they could before they had to show themselves and fight face-to-face.

The plan wasn't perfect yet, but they would iron out more details in subsequent meetings. First, they had to get Dumbledore to agree. That was Professor Snape's first job. In the meantime, the rest of them spent much of Sunday in pairs looking for a good room or corridor to funnel the DE toward on the night of the attack. They told their friends in Gryffindor that they were going exploring and purposely let them believe they were going off to find a quiet place to snog. Hermione had already set the alarm on the map that would let them know if Wormtail was on the grounds, and Harry and Draco were in charge of it. Hermione was taking the time exploring to work on the test map that they had started while learning how to add to the Marauder's Map. She had been working on it steadily since then and had significant parts of the castle already worked in.

Right before dinner, they met up to report on their findings and compare notes. They had a few good possibilities but no perfect place as yet.

#

Harry and Draco were spending one DADA class each week with the seventh years, a second with Professor Snape training to defeat Death Eaters and the other — either Wednesday or Friday depending on Snape's schedule — on independent study. Most of the time, they took the opportunity to practice and review for the upcoming NEWT. Since most of their free time was taken up with Voldemort issues, they needed to take advantage of every chance to get schoolwork done. However, Harry was starting to feel at bit worn down. Also, Harry was pretty sure that Draco was close to a break down, as well. After all, all work and no play made for dull boys.

So, Harry had a plan for their independent study this week. After all, the contract said they had to be there and that they would take turns being in charge. It didn't specify what they did. And it was Harry's turn to be in charge this week. So, Harry got there first and moved the desks to the side of the room. As he was finishing, Draco came in.

"What's the plan this week? I hope it's nothing too physical. I'm beat."

"Well, I can't guarantee it won't be physical. That's sort of up to you." With that, Harry sent a locking charm on the door and a silencing charm on the whole room. Then, he waved his wand and recreated Draco's bedroom here in their DADA room. Except this bedroom came complete with quiet music and NO desk to do homework at. Harry turned to Draco. "Would you like a nap or …"

"Or."

#

The next night, Ron was in charge of watching the Map, and he came barreling down the steps from the their bedroom to the common room. Harry knew immediately why and gave him a quelling look. Ron had the intelligence to look a bit sheepish and moderate his pace.

"Hey, Harry. Didn't you tell me you were going to do your homework at Draco's tonight?"

"Yeah. I was just about to pack up and head down to his room." Harry sent a message to Draco and Snape via the mark on his palm as Ron sat down next to Hermione and asked her a question about their DADA homework while pointing something out on a piece of paper.

"Harry, you know this work as well as I do. What do you think of this here?"

Harry looked at the parchment and saw that Wormtail was at this moment heading toward a room in the dungeons where Nott could be seen pacing. "It looks like Ron didn't complete the reading before he answered the question, so he didn't see the precautions on when not to use that spell."

"Aw Hermione, do you have to rub it in?"

Harry was really impressed with Ron's acting skills. He had just the right level of whining and shame in his tone. He even managed a small blush. Harry wondered what he was thinking about to raise that flush. Then he decided he didn't want to know. Luckily, they already had a plan in place for this circumstance — and many others. So there would be little need for further subterfuge in the common room.

By this time, Harry had managed to take back possession of the Map and was packing up his books. "Well, it's about that time. I'll see you guys later."

'K. See you later."

Harry hurried to the prearranged meeting room. Luckily it was near the room Nott was pacing in without being on Wormtail's route to it. They had scoped out a number of likely places figuring that Nott and Wormtail would meet in the same room if for no other reason than they didn't have any reason to believe they needed to be careful. Wormtail, after all, didn't remember being waylaid the last time he visited the castle.

Both Snape and Draco were waiting for him when he entered, and he went right to business. "Same place as last time. He's about 15 yards away. Ready?"

Both men nodded at Harry, and they all left the room to creep toward Nott and Wormtail's meeting room, performing disillusionment and other charms to keep their sound, smell, and vibrations from reaching the rat's senses. They were close enough to see Wormtail switch back to Pettigrew before he entered the meeting room. Luckily, Wormtail had been picked for this job for his ability to sneak into Hogwarts, and he wasn't the cleverest wizard. Or, at least, he hadn't been a spy for years. Snape quickly placed a spell on the room that overrode the silencing charm Pettigrew was likely to throw. Thus, when the three invisible and silent wizards reached the meeting room, they were able to listen to the conversation going on inside as they breathed out in relief at their successful timing.

This was, after all, the most desirable result. It would be easier to eavesdrop than to capture Wormtail, interrogate him with Veritaserum, and Obliviate him, hoping he didn't notice the gap in his memory and get suspicious. The more they could keep their interactions with him to a minimum, the less likely it was that Voldemort would notice something odd about his memories during his inevitable Legilmency of his groveling servant on his return.

Twenty minutes later, they were especially glad they hadn't had to capture Wormtail seeing as there was nothing new to report. Nott had told Pettigrew that he was close but still not ready. Pettigrew had spent some time trying to intimidate Nott into working faster or telling him his plan.

Harry felt a shiver to hear his classmate say, "I won't tell you anything. Our Lord knows what I'm doing, and he told me not to tell anyone." Harry had heard Snape and even Draco refer to Voldemort as the Dark Lord plenty of times. It was the tone of devotion Nott used that Harry found unnerving. Harry wasn't sure when or how Nott had communicated his plan to Voldemort but not to Wormtail, but he supposed it wasn't really important in the long run.

After a short recap to make sure everyone knew all that had been said, Harry and Draco went to his room to do some homework (and send a quick message to Hermione and Ron) while Professor Snape went to report to the Headmaster.

#

"So, Harry, what are you doing reading about wizarding marriage laws?" Hermione said this as she sat down next to him on the floor in front of the coffee table he was using as a desk in his training room. It was Saturday and Harry had been by himself in 'his room' for a good portion of the day.

Before Harry could do anything other than raise his eyes, Ron cut in, "Yeah, is there something you want to tell us?"

"What?" Harry was genuinely confused, but Ron's significant look and comically raised and lowered eyebrows helped him work it out. "Nothing to tell you. I'm just working my way through the Wizarding Culture section of the library in all of my vast amounts of free time. It's not my fault you guys didn't notice until now."

"You're doing what?"

"I'm trying to fill in all the gaps. I'm always the last to understand something since I was not only Muggle raised but also practically a hermit with the way the Dursley's treated me. So, I started reading books."

"You could just ask me. I know a lot of this stuff." Ron sounded a bit put out.

"How am I supposed to know the questions to ask?"

"Hmm. Good point."

"Of course, I usually have questions even after reading the book." Harry pointed at a piece of parchment with about 10 questions on it. "Those are the ones so far from this book. I've been waiting until I finish the book — in case it answers some of my questions on it's own — and then asking Draco or Snape. You want to take the marriage ones when I'm done? I'm sure they're sick of me."

"I can try. I can't guarantee I understand all the laws and stuff."

"Most of my questions aren't going to be about something like the laws. The books usually explain that kind of stuff. It's the stuff they don't explain because they assume everyone knows that are a problem."

Draco had arrived in the middle of this, and he was settled in the chair across Harry and Hermione. "Yeah, he always asks the oddest questions. I usually learn something Muggle while I try to explain the Wizard stuff to him. It's been kind of interesting, and I'm not sick of you." He punctuated this last by stretching over the coffee table to give Harry a peck on the lips.

Hermione butted in. "Well, this is fascinating, but weren't we supposed to be meeting to discuss our counter-attack plan?"

Harry started putting his book away. "OK, what do we have so far?"

"We've got a number of different plans ranging from the we-know-when-it-will-happen scenario down to the the-first-clue-we-get-is-from-the-map-at-some-inopportune-time version of events that we've gone over with all of you and Snape and Dumbledore." Draco pulled out Hermione's smaller map of the castle. They had made sure it covered some of the most important parts around the Room of Requirement.

"Right, you and the Headmaster have the portraits and the elves alerted, and they'll let one or both of you know if they see anyone who isn't a student or staff member in the castle. The Headmaster has also coordinated with the Order. If we have any warning, Moody and Remus will be here to help in the fight. If need be, they can pretend they are having a DADA meeting and the Headmaster brought them in for opinions on the curriculum. Also if there is time, Dumbledore will arrange for Kingley and Tonks to get an anonymous tip about Death Eater activity at Borgin & Burkes. Hopefully, they will be able to help by minimizing the numbers of people that get through the cabinet. Lastly, Barnabas the Barmy was surprisingly helpful and promised to send one of the trolls — who are much brighter than real trolls — to let us know whenever Nott enters the Room," Ron reported. "In addition, I've received the shipment from the twins that we ordered. There's lots of useful stuff in there — fireworks, portable swamps, instant darkness powder, and other stuff. I've got a sampling with me, and we should all go through everything to make sure we're familiar with what each looks like and what exactly it does."

"We'll get to that in a few minutes." Hermione was keeping them on track as usual. "Harry, have you tried blocking off passageways with your transfiguration/charms trick so we can funnel any intruders to a safe location to fight them?"

"Yup, I can now do it so it looks seamless with the walls surrounding in just a few seconds. I can't decide which is better — an empty wall that someone might notice is curiously without portraits or one that duplicates an existing picture but with no ability to move."

"Either way, is it solid or just an illusion?" Hermione asked.

"Whichever we would prefer. If we want to preserve our ability to walk through it, I can make an illusion; if not, I can make it solid."

"In general, I think that there will be places we want a solid wall and others where we'll want an illusion. Also, I would think that non-moving pictures would be a giveaway." Draco then offered a suggestion. "Can you do a blank wall with a suit of armor standing in the middle?"

"I imagine so."

"That might be better — especially for the solid walls."

"We know where we'd like to funnel them, and we've got a few alternate rooms. Can we go over the specific routes and specify where the temporary walls should be solid or an illusion? That way, I'll know what to do without any discussion in case we have to move quickly. Then, we can go over our palm notification codes and the WWW stuff. I think that will cover all of the loose ends."

#


	30. Chapter 30

The next Monday, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the students who were of age but who didn't yet have an Apparition license were tested. Ron had some difficulty early on at the lessons but had quickly realized how important it was to have this skill. So, he buckled down, studied the theory, and practiced and practiced until he had it down. Hermione, of course, had no trouble. Both were legally licensed to apparate by the end of the day. Draco and Harry were still underage, but Snape was going to take them on Saturday to be tested anyway. Dumbledore had used some of his influence and invoked Harry's name to convince someone to give them an exemption and to keep it quiet. Both of them were confident they would pass.

They weren't about to have Dumbledore and Snape move heaven and earth to get them a test and then fail it. So, like Ron, they had practiced and practiced. Unlike Ron, they hadn't needed quite as much practice and so had gotten quite comfortable with the skill. There was no chance either would forget how to apparate in a panic. Harry even managed a number of successful side-alongs in case he ever needed to transport someone who couldn't apparate him- or herself. Draco and Hermione were working on that, but they still had difficulty sometimes. Luckily, they never mistakenly splinched their passenger but instead either were successful or left their passenger behind entirely. Ron had just started practicing side-along with inanimate objects and hadn't yet gotten comfortable enough for them to let him progress to small animals.

By Saturday, all four of them could legally apparate. Harry and Draco, of course, had to pretend to still be unlicensed. But if an emergency came up, they at least wouldn't be in trouble for unlicensed apparition. Harry supposed it wasn't always a bad thing to get special treatment for being the Boy Who Lived.

#

A little over a week later, Draco was on duty watching the Map when Harry felt his palm pulsing. The exact letters were an agreed upon code. Wormtail had just shown up on the Map, and Draco was calling Harry and Professor Snape down to his room. Luckily, Harry was alone in his training room when this happened. So, he was able to drop everything and get to Draco's almost as quickly as Snape who only had to come from the Potions classroom a few hallways down. Of course, Snape had to stabilize a potion and lock up before he could leave.

Once again, they got lucky and the Professor was able to get his spells cast before Wormtail got his in place. They quickly discovered he was there unexpectedly because Nott had sent a coded letter that his plan was in place. Nott explains in more detail about the Vanishing Cabinet. Voldemort knew the details before and had set a date.

They had another week and a half to prepare. Death Eaters were coming to Hogwarts on May 16th.

#

The next week and a half was excruciating. Harry was torn between wanting it to be over and wanting more time to prepare. It was hard to concentrate on the Quidditch match that Saturday. For the first time in a long time, Harry did not feel all of his worries leave as soon as he mounted his broom. In fact, Harry's distraction meant that Cho spotted the snitch first, but he managed to outrun her and catch it so Gryffindor won the game. However, he wasn't feeling up for the party in the Tower, so he left shortly after he arrived and walked toward the lake.

Harry was skipping stones with a bit of magical help when we realized someone was approaching him from behind. He quickly swirled around with his hand ready to pull his wand. "Lisa Turpin?"

"Hey, Harry," she replied very softly while staring at the ground.

Harry watched her for a bit. She was either not a threat or trying very hard to appear not to be a threat. After a bit, Harry decided to listen to the small voice in the back of his head and give her some space to say what she came out here to say. So, he turned back to the lake and skipped a few more stones. With his back still turned, he asked, "What can I help you with, Lisa?"

"What makes you think I want anything?"

"Well, this is a pretty big lake. If you didn't want to talk to me, you could have just kept walking. Plus, we aren't exactly close friends. So, I figure the best reason for you to come talk to me is if you wanted to ask a question." Harry was careful to keep his tone friendly and open. He didn't want her to think she was imposing. "Whatever it is, I'll help if I can."

There was a small gasp behind him. "Why are being nice to me?"

"Is there a reason I shouldn't be?"

"There would be if I did what my uncle wanted me to." The last was said in a mumble but Harry heard her clearly and saw no reason to pretend he hadn't.

"Oh?" Harry had to work really hard to not react negatively to the thought that this quiet Ravenclaw could have been an enemy. If she were going to attack him, she would have done so by now.

"He …" There was a long pause, and then she started talking again. "He's my guardian and all summer he was talking about working his way into the Dark Lord's inner circle. He figured that with all of the arrests at the end of last school year, there would be room for him to move up. He- He-," Lisa stopped after the second attempt to start the next sentence. She took a huge breath and then started again. "He was planning on kidnapping or killing you to impress the Dark Lord."

"And I'm guessing that he's been trying to convince you to help, right?" After he didn't hear a response, he turned around to see her nodding her head. "It's OK, Lisa. You obviously have decided not to go along with his plan. I won't hold his plans or actions against you. If you need help — or refuge — because you didn't do what he asked, I might be able to help."

"What?"

"Isn't that why you came here?"

"No, I wanted to warn you. Tell you his plan."

"OK. What do you know?"

"He says he is going to be at the castle soon. I don't know how or exactly when, but he said soon. We spoke this morning via a charm he came up with to communicate with me while I was in school. It only works with family members. He said, 'While everyone else is busy with the traitors, I'll find Potter and bring him to my master.'"

"Wow. OK. This is really helpful. I appreciate you going out on a limb to tell me. Would anyone be watching your movements and notice that you were talking to me?"

"No, Uncle Thor wouldn't have told anyone else his plan. He only trusts family."

"Good." Harry reached out and touched her arm. "Are you sure you want to go back home after you told me? If not, I have a way you could avoid it — at least for a good part of the summer."

"I- I couldn't just leave him. We're the only ones left."

"Well, I wouldn't want to go home if I were you. I'd be terrified he'd find out I betrayed him. I don't like to think what he would do to you if he did."

"But …"

"Lisa, I don't know what your family is like, but you did the right thing. I know that's easy for me to say since it's my life on the line. But he shouldn't be dragging you into his dirty work by asking you to help him commit a crime — especially because it's just to serve his ambition to rise in the ranks. That isn't family loyalty in my book, so he betrayed you long before you told me his secrets."

By the end of Harry speech, Lisa was sobbing, and Harry was rubbing her back in as soothing a manner as he could manage. It was like something had broken open and all the pressure she had undoubtedly been under burst forth. Harry maneuvered them until he was leaning against a tree, and Lisa was crying in his arms. He rubbed her back in circles until the crying finally stopped, and she pulled away from him.

"God, what you must think of me!" Her face was red and her voice was thick with congestion as she tried to wipe away some of the tears. Harry conjured a handkerchief and handed it over.

"What I think is that you are incredibly smart for realizing you needed help and unbelievably brave for coming to me."

"I just about drowned you. We barely know each other."

"So? I was here, and I'm happy to do it. It's the least I can do for the girl who gave me definite information of a threat to my life."

She smiled wryly and sniffed. "I'll wash the handkerchief and get it back to you."

"Don't bother. I just conjured it." Then he pointed his wand. "Finite." The dirty handkerchief she had been clutching in her hand disappeared. Next, he conjured a fresh clean one and handed it over. "Just in case," he said with a smile.

"Thanks. God, I hate crying. It always gives me a headache." She rubbed her temples. "Did you mean it?"

"I'm sure I did. Which part?"

"That you could help if I didn't want to go home this summer."

"Yes, I can. Draco, Ron, and Snape have been planning a special summer school session teaching life skills and other useful things here at Hogwarts. We're going to invite some of our friends, but a bunch of the kids will be ones who don't want to — or can't — go home for whatever reason. We're trying to make it so the ones who don't want to be open about turning against their family can just ask to stay and learn more Defense and the kinds of housekeeping and other skills that you need if you are going to live on your own but never get taught in school."

"All summer?"

"Yeah. I imagine some won't stay for the whole session, but most will. I know I'm not planning on being on the train back to London. Shall I get someone to 'invite' you?"

"Yeah. I think so. It would be so nice not to fear the summer."

"Good. I'll let someone know, and you'll probably get the official invite from Flitwick. OK?"

"That's good. My uncle won't think anything of something coming from Flitwick. He thinks he's harmless."

"He obviously has never tried dueling Filius Flitwick, then. That man is scary fast and hard as hell to hit!"

Harry was really glad to hear her giggle.

#

Before they knew it, it was Thursday night. Remus Lupin and Alastor Moody had both arrived at the castle for their 'meeting' with the Headmaster. Harry and Draco were walking away from a meeting with them and the rest of the people who would be on the alert the next day. In addition to the four students, Professor Snape, the Headmaster and the two Order members, Professors McGonnagall and Flitwick were at the meeting. Ron, Draco, and Snape had gone over their plans, and everyone knew their part and had a way of communicating with other members of the team. Dumbledore was in charge of getting word to Kingsley and Tonks so they could intercept on the othe side as soon as they got any sniff of movement. Everyone was assuming they would arrive after dark, but no one was taking any chances.

"I'm glad the full moon isn't until late next week and Remus could make it."

"Yeah, and the Dark Lord can't get Greyback to lead his pack here." Draco shuddered as he commented.

"Ugh. Yeah, I hadn't thought of that." Harry and Draco continued to walk together but now in silence. As they approached Gryffindor Tower, Harry reached out and grabbed Draco's hand and pulled him into a handy alcove. Sometimes, it was right useful living in an ancient castle. "Draco, please be careful tomorrow. I know I can't convince you not to fight; but they are going to be coming for you, so you should be especially careful."

"I'm sure more of them will be trying to get Professor Snape than me. He was one of them once, and they'll probably assume I can be taken easily."

"Yeah, well, still."

"OK, OK. You know I'll be careful. Dumbledore has already made it so only portkeys created by him will work on school grounds. They can't apparate. So, the only way they are going to bring me to Riddle is kicking and screaming. I'm not going to let that happen, and neither is anyone else there. Plus, you are going to have Lisa's stupid uncle trying to grab you. AND he's more likely to try to kill you. You know Riddle's told everyone to bring the traitors back alive. So, you better be careful, too."

"I will. I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve than the last time I did something like this. NO, I'm not getting overconfident. Just trying to have a positive outlook. God, Draco, I don't want anyone to get hurt. I hate this waiting."

Harry and Draco had already been standing very close and holding each other's hands. Now, Draco let go and moved his hands to Harry face and turned it back to look at him. "Calm down. This kind of worry will only exhaust you before anything even starts. Now, promise me you'll go right up to your room, meditate, and go to sleep."

Harry nodded his head in Draco's hands. Then, he leaned forward and with his lips just inches from Draco's, Harry said, "I will. Why don't you distract me for a bit first?"

Draco just smirked and closed the remaining distance. Harry had a feeling he would have no trouble sleeping that night.

#

Harry raised his hand and transformed the opening into a solid wall. That was the last of them. He looked over at Draco and raised an eyebrow.

"Ron and Hermione reported the first person emerging form the Room a minute ago. They'll let us know the exact number and then follow the last group."

Harry nodded and started down the hall. Not surprisingly, Nott hadn't headed to the Room until a few hours after dinner. Undoubtedly the Death Eaters found the cover of darkness in Knockturn Alley useful. Harry and Draco entered the room where they planned to have the confrontation. All the rest of the players were already there and waiting and all raised their wands at the new arrivals until they realized who it was.

"Sorry about that." Harry smirked at the glare Moody sent his way. "They're on their way. The traps are all set, but Ron and Hermione will only set them off if either the attackers have begun to suspect an ambush or there is a compelling reason to ruin the surprise. They'll let us know how many to expect as soon as they are fairly certain the last has left the Room. Have you heard from Kingsley and Tonks?"

"Not yet," Dumbledore responded.

"Places everybody." Draco was the only one who seemed to find Harry's small joke even slightly amusing.

Within minutes, the first Death Eater had entered, and the battle was on. Harry and Draco stood back to back and fought desperately. Harry was surprised by how different this battle felt to last year's. He felt so much more in control — and not just because they had ambushed the Death Eaters this time. All the training this year was paying off.

Harry saw flashing lights from outside the room and knew that Hermione and Ron were guarding the way back to the Room and/or out of the castle. He heard a growl from a few feet to his left and realized that Remus was fighting Greyback. His start of surprise and concern for his father's friend was put to rest as Harry saw in an instant that Greyback was angry and flustered while Remus looked cool and in control. It seemed that in this instance, the wand was greater than the claw.

Quickly, Harry snapped back to attention as a purple colored beam of light sailed over his head. He needed to focus on his own fight instead of worrying about everyone else.

#

The battle was over quite quickly as most of the invaders were not expecting a prepared defense.

"You OK?" Draco appeared mostly unharmed — just a few cuts and minor curse burns — but Harry asked nonetheless. At Draco's nod, he reached out to touch him. At the same time, Draco reached for Harry, and they embraced briefly before pulling away. Neither was willing to let go entirely, so they held hands. They had subdued three opponents working together as a team. Harry couldn't tell if any of them was Lisa's uncle, but he was keeping his guard up in case they had missed him. He had missed Hermione's report on how many Death Eaters were in the castle because the fight had started by then, so he wasn't sure if the 16 people lying stunned and bound (in most cases, although two appeared dead) was everyone. "Hermione?"

She understood his question immediately and looked around the room counting bodies. "Everyone is present and accounted for except that one person that ran out about 20 minutes ago, Harry. Sorry we let him by."

"That's OK. You did a great job keeping them here, and that was your main job."

"Yeah, but we only actually took down one of them," Ron growled.

"What part of, 'your job is to make sure as few get out as possible' did you not understand?" Harry paused until both Ron and Hermione nodded in response. "Remus followed our runner, didn't he?" Before Harry could go on, Remus came back in panting.

"I lost him. He made it to the gate and apparated away."

"Ah well. I saw you with Greyback. That wasn't who we lost, was it?"

"Ah no. He's dead." For a moment, Remus looked obscenely pleased with himself, but he schooled his features into a more neutral expression after a moment. He then joined Moody in re-stunning and checking the bindings on all of the downed Death Eaters, including the two that looked dead.

What do we do now?" Harry's question was aimed at the room in general, and as he asked, he took in the state of his companions. Ron and Hermione were a bit worse off than Harry and Draco. Hermione appeared to have severely damaged her (non-wand) arm as it was wrapped in some conjured bandages, and Ron had a large gash across his shoulder. Hermione cast a charm to stop the bleeding on Ron's shoulder and started checking him for any other serious injury as he did the same to her.

"That was close, Minerva. I suppose it's useful to be able to turn into a cat when your shield fails." Flitwick tone was laughing, and Harry looked over at him in time to see McGonagall in animagus form glaring at him. Her tail was a bit singed, but otherwise she looked pretty normal — at least as a cat.

With a small pop, she was back to human form. "Well, Filius, I thought I would take a page from your book and give him a smaller target to aim at. What were you doing, rolling on the ground? You have dust bunnies the size of dragons in your hair."

"Laugh if you will, but I'm the one who ended up stunning and binding that one that got your tail."

"Hmmf." Despite the tone, Harry could see the easy, teasing relationship between the Charms and Transfiguration teachers. "Severus, did I hear you exchanging insults with both Carrows?"

"You did." Snape pointed at the stunned and bound bodies lying near his feet. Both of them looked worse off than Snape, but Harry was fairly certain that Snape could be at death's door and still refuse to show it. In fact, when he took a step away, he appeared to be favoring his right leg, but Harry was fairly certain he wouldn't go to Madame Pomfrey to fix it.

"To answer your question, my boy, Alastor and Remus will arrange for all of the prisoners to be transported to the Ministry as soon as I report this incident to the Aurors officially. The four of you can head to the Infirmary. Would you be able to undo all of your illusions and traps on the way?"

"Yes, sir." Harry turned to his friends. "Come on, guys. Lets get rid of those Wheezes before someone sets them off by accident."

#

_For all of you who want to know the details, there is more info on who fought whom below. I have to figure these things out in order to write about them even if I end up not including all of the details in the finished product._

_10 Hogwarts defenders vs. 17 Death Eaters (including Theo Nott)_

_Harry and Draco took out three together. Yes, one was Lisa's uncle, but they wouldn't know that because identification was done after the masks were taken off back at the Ministry._

_Hermione and Ron only took out one because they were mostly watching the door._

_Snape bound both Carrows. Both he and McGonagall recognized their voices._

_Remus killed Greyback (unmasked) and then chased the person who ran._

_Moody killed one and bound two_

_McGonagall and Flitwick bound three (working together – sort of)_

_Dumbledore bound three_

_Voldemort sent 25 people to bring back two traitors (Snape and Draco). Kingsley and Tonks stopped the other eight from getting through the Vanishing Cabinet. Of those eight, two got away. _

_The story is almost done now. Just a bit more.  
_


	31. Chapter 31

"What happened to you four?"

Everyone looked to Harry who appeared to have gotten the nomination for spokesperson without even running. Harry wasn't sure what to tell her at first but then decided the cover story they had worked out for the Ministry would be best.

"Death Eaters."

"Here?"

Harry nodded. "Dumbledore had asked Remus Lupin to come to the castle for some reason. We were visiting with him before what looked like a mini-staff meeting was going to start. Suddenly, Dumbledore announced there were intruders in the castle heading our way. A few minutes later, a group of Death Eaters burst in."

During Harry's recitation, Madame Pomfrey was waving her wand over Hermione. The bandage meant she looked most visibly hurt. In addition, Ron, Draco, and Harry were content to wait until her arm was fixed, so they had pushed her forward.

"Are you the only ones hurt?"

"No, but Hermione's the worst off other than the prisoners."

"Prisoners?"

"Yes, ma'am. We subdued almost all of Death Eaters. One got to the gate and apparated away. Remus and Professor Moody were both here, so they are going to take the Death Eaters to the Ministry."

"Alright, Miss Granger, it appears that your arm is broken. The good news is that it is a simple break that I can fix rather easily. Come sit on this bed here. The rest of you, settle down on a bed each. I'll get to you in just a few mintes."

She bustled off to the potions cabinet, and Draco and Harry went and sat on beds facing each other. Ron picked the bed closest to Hermione. Harry saw him murmur something to her, and she nodded and smiled back feebly. He had a feeling that now that the adrenaline was wearing off, that arm was hurting something fierce. Harry took his eyes off his friends and looked over at Draco.

"You're sure you're OK?"

"I'm fine." Draco smile also looked a bit off. Harry decided that Madame Pomfrey's orders could be ignored for now and moved over to sit next to Draco. He put his arm around Draco's waist and pulled his head down to Harry's shoulder. Then, he rested his own head on top of Draco's. Harry closed his eyes and breathed in the still clean scent of Draco's shampoo. He was starting to feel better already.

#

Madame Pomfrey kept Hermione overnight but sent the rest of them back to their dorms after fixing their various cuts and burns. They picked her up on the way to breakfast the next morning. In the castle, the students were chattering and most of the talk seemed to be about with what happened last night. Harry was glad they had a story worked out ahead of time. It had gotten exaggerated, of course, in the grapevine of gossiping students, but it still resembled the story he had told Madame Pomfrey last night.

When the mail came and the students who got the paper saw the headlines, it set up more buzzing. The main headline was the attack at Hogwarts, but there was a significant side story about what happened at Burgin & Burkes along with some speculation that the incidents were linked.

That story said that six Death Eaters were apprehended in Knockturn Alley, but it appeared that Kingsley Shacklebolt had managed to keep the Vanishing Cabinet from becoming news. Harry would get the full story of what happened from Dumbledore later. Harry looked over at the Ravenclaw table and made eye contact with Lisa Turpin. He would find her later to let her know if her uncle was among those captured last night — as soon as he found out from Dumbledore. For now, Harry was content to sit with Ron and Hermione and let Ron answer the questions thrown at them by the people sitting nearby. He was glad this battle was over, but he realized that it was not going to be his last.

#

The next few weeks sped by. In addition to exams, Harry and his friends had a lot of details to work out about the summer program at Hogwarts. Mrs. Weasley had agreed to come and teach, and Ron and Ginny would stay all summer as well. Hermione was going home for a few weeks and then coming back for the rest of the summer. While she was home, she would get a visit from Professor Snape and some Order members to check and reinforce the wards around her parent's house and office. Being friends with Harry carried certain dangers, and they were all doing their best so her parents weren't used as a weapon in this war.

Harry had gotten permission from Dumbledore to not go back to the Dursley's this summer. Harry wondered whether Vernon and Petunia had celebrated when they got his letter telling them they didn't need to pick him up at the station since he wouldn't be coming back. Luckily, Harry had long ago stopped leaving anything personal at their house. So, he knew that if he never went back, he wouldn't be missing anything.

Draco and Ron both invited a few more people to the summer school experience. Their common Common Room had worked out well and was often full of students from all four houses working on their homework or playing games. They had eight Slytherins, four Ravenclaws, and two Hufflepuffs who needed sanctuary. They only Gryffindor that they identified as 'at risk' was a graduating seventh year that no one was able to make any progress with. Draco was happy that most of his Slytherin year mates, including both Crabbe and Goyle, had decided to follow his example. Unfortunately, they still could not be openly friendly with Draco. They also had a number of other students who were staying for the summer, so no one would realize the real purpose of the program. Overall, it was going to be a busy summer, and Harry was looking forward to it as he hadn't looked forward to a summer ever before.

#

Early in June, the Headmaster, Professor Snape, and Harry left the castle to look for one more Horcrux. The night they went to the cave was unseasonably cold and rainy. Dumbledore side-along apparated with Harry since he hadn't had a chance to master apparating to a spot on a map that he was unfamiliar with. The regular school year was almost finished, and they wanted to take this trip before the summer school session started. There would be less students, so someone would be likely to question why all three of them were gone on the same night.

Harry found himself trailing along behind the Headmaster and Professor Snape as they swam toward the dark fissure in the rock face. Once out of the frigid water and dry and warm thanks to the wonders of magic, Dumbledore quickly deduced that they would need to bleed onto the rocks to open the door. Dumbledore had cut himself before Harry or Snape could object.

The great dark lake was unfriendly at best and more realistically, malevolent. They carefully walked around the edge, being sure not to walk into the water. Dumbledore was in front, Harry next, and Snape behind Harry. On and on they walked, and Harry tried to convince his eyes to watch his feet or Dumbledore's back. Instead, they kept being drawn to the green glow in the center of the lake. He knew better than to ask what it was coming from. Undoubtedly, they needed to go there to retrieve whatever Riddle had left there — Horcrux or something else. They had stopped just inside the room for Harry pull out Ravenclaw's diadem and see if there was a connection from it to anything in the area, but none of the faint lines of connection lasted long enough to provide any useful information. None of them knew if the protections and other enchantments Voldemort had put in place dulled the connection or if they were simply on the wrong trail. Either way, they would have to follow this clue without the advantage of Harry's magic sight giving them any easy answers.

Suddenly, Dumbledore stopped, and Harry just missed running into him. After a moment and some wand work, a chain appeared and a tiny boat emeged from the water.

"Obviously, it is meant for one person. We will have to take turns to make it across the lake," Snape opined from behind Harry.

"Ah, but then how will it get back to this shore by itself?" Before Snape could offer an explanation, Dumbledore answered his own question. "I rather think an enchantment will have been placed upon this boat so that only one wizard at a time will be able to sail in it. Luckily, we can count on Tom to underestimate Harry, who is still underage. He should be able to go across with either of us."

"I'll go over first and take Mr. Potter. If there is a problem getting the boat to come back with a non-passenger, you may be able to do something to convince it since you seem to understand how his mind works better than I."

"Yes, that does seem prudent." Then, turning to the silent member of their party, he said, "Harry, make sure not to touch the water when you get into and out of the boat. I believe we may be safe in the boat. After all, Tom had to make it so he could cross if he needed. However, I'm certain there is something waiting in the water that we would not want to disturb."

"Yes, sir."

The boat was small. Harry had to crouch since there was no place for him to sit. When they scraped up on the small island in the middle of the lake, Snape got out and Harry followed him. Since the boat had started moving on its own on the other side, Harry wasn't too surprised to have it sit and wait. It was, undoubtedly, waiting for the wizard to get back into the boat to cross back over. Snape stood on the shore looking down at the boat with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I hesitate to try any of the spells one would normally use to propel a boat as they might disturb the Inferi in the lake."

"Is that what they are? I saw some flashes of limbs, but I wasn't sure. Is it fire that I would use against them if need be?" Harry manfully tried to suppress a shiver as he thought of the seemingly dead bodies floating in the lake.

"Yes. Fire should keep them off when and if they emerge from the water. As to the boat …"

Before Snape could finish, it started to move back across the water. Harry stood and watched the boat while Snape went to check out the source of the odd green glow. Harry was sure that it was his imagination, but the boat seemed to take longer to cross to Dumbledore than the previous leg. He wasn't sure if it was not being there and uselessly worrying about Dumbledore or the certain knowledge of the Inferi floating below the boat waiting to do Voldemort's bidding should any of them do whatever it was to trigger that defense. Either way, he was relieved to see the boat reach the opposite shore. Dumbledore climbed in and almost immediately the boat started back over to the island.

Very quickly, Harry was helping the Headmaster disembark, and they were all standing around the stone basin that was the source of the greenish glow. After looking in at the emerald liquid, Harry let himself fall into a very slight trance and studied the magic surrounding the basin. Snape and Dumbleore were conferring to his side, but Harry didn't listen. What he was finding was unlike any curse he had worked on before. There were layers and layers, all interlocking in some way so that to trigger one protection was to trigger them all. What made this different was that there was no obvious failsafe. Generally, there was a piece that went through each layer indicating the spell needed to undo the curse or a keyhole to indicate something to be poured over the cursed object (potion or blood generally) that the creator had built into the curses. That way, the creator could say the right words or pour a potion or blood (as with the door) onto the cursed object, and it would disable the curses so the creator or his confidante did not have to battle the curses.

"I don't get it."

"What do you not 'get,' Mr. Potter?" Snape sounded a bit disdainful about Harry's syntax, but it was probably just his own frustration showing through. Harry had learned to ignore his mood swings sometime this year.

"There's no key. How is Voldemort supposed to get at it if there's no key?"

"Well, it appears that the only way to get the potion out of the basin is to drink it. We cannot touch it or vanish it or transfigure it or any other of a number of things. I would guess he would bring someone or something along that he felt was disposable and make them drink it. I imagine he would enjoy watching them suffer as a special bonus."

Ah, Harry now understood the reason for the attitude. Snape was always this way when reminded of the cruel master he had willingly chosen to serve in his youthful stupidity. Harry was sure this was one of the reasons he found people leaping before looking into something thoroughly so very distasteful. After all, look where it got him.

"Have you figured out which potion it is or what it does?"

"It not meant to poison one outright. Instead, it makes you relive bad memories and bitter regrets as well as making you inordinately thirsty. If you don't drink it all or you are an extremely strong wizard and manage to get out of here promptly, you would not die. But, any one person drinking all of it would be severely weakened not to mention horribly thirsty. In fact, it is likely that if one of the Dark Lord's enemies came here, they would weaken enough before the end to stop drinking or be tempted to drink from the lake and then be set upon by the Inferi. Thus, keeping his Horcrux safe."

Harry swallowed the bitter bile that had risen in the back of his throat as he thought about having to drink Voldemort's potion. After a moment, his brain seemed to click back into gear. "So, if we split it three ways, do you think we can still keep each other safe?"

"I don't know. I would estimate we could each drink about a fourth of it and still be mostly rational. However, I don't know how quickly it would affect us after that."

"So, we need one more person."

"And since that's impossible, we need to decide whether one of us should remain unaffected and chance the other two drinking more or if we should each drink a third." A long silence followed Snape's last statement.

Finally, Harry broke it. "Professor, would a house elf be able to drink any without ill effects?"

"Yes, they would probably be able to drink even more than a wizard before it affected them."

"Well, there are tons of house elves at Hogwarts. Can you call them from his distance, Headmaster?

"Alas, they are bound to the castle rather than the Headmaster, so I cannot call on any of them outside of the grounds of the castle."

"So, if we can't call for a bunch of Hogwarts elves, I'll have to do it." Harry turned to Snape. "You did say even one more would be helpful, right?" At Snape's nod, Harry reluctantly did something he swore he never would. "Kreacher!"

A few minutes later, Kreacher popped in. Harry had bet that a house elf could probably get directly here if his master called since they could pop all around Hogwarts. He didn't like to think about the Black estate he'd inherited when Sirius died. Most of it was still tied down in paperwork as Narcissa Malfoy tried to contest the will. However, he had been told that in the meantime the properties would recognize him as their master and had consequently given Dumbledore permission to continue using Grimmauld Place for Order headquarters. He had tried hard not to think about the treacherous elf who was now his to command.

Before Harry could open his mouth to tell Kreacher anything, he looked frantically around himself and then threw himself at Harry's feet and start screeching, "No, no. Kreacher doesn't want to drink the potion again. Kreacher doesn't want to do it again. Kreacher will do anything filthy halfblood Master wants if he doesn't make Kreacher drink the potion."

Harry had finally snapped out of his numbness at the outburst. "Kreacher! Stop!" he yelled at his most forceful. Into the sudden quiet, Harry said, "You've been here before?" Kreacher nodded and opened his mouth to start pleading again, but Harry jumped in before he could start. "If you tell me all about it, you might not have to drink any of the potion. Now, tell me."

"Master Regulus told Kreacher the Dark Lord needed an elf."

Harry held up a finger to Kreacher and then turned his inquiring eyes to Snape.

"Regulus was Sirius' younger brother. He was a Death Eater who disappeared sometime before you defeated Voldemort. I never knew what happened to him, nor did your godfather. Everyone assumed that he was killed, but no one knew for certain."

Harry turned back to Kreacher and motioned for him to continue his story. In just a few minutes, Kreacher managed to hiccup and stumble through his horrible tale. How the Dark Lord made him drink the potion and then left him there to die. How Kreacher was dragged into the lake by the Inferi when he tried to quench his terrible thirst but didn't die by dint of the luck of having Regulus call for him. How Regulus had Kreacher take him back and ordered him to switch the lockets and leave him behind. How he was forced to watch Regulus be dragged into the lake and keep Regulus' secret even as his beloved mistress was mad with grief for her son. How Kreacher couldn't destroy the locket no matter how hard he tried to follow orders. How he stole it from the trash bin and hid it in his cupboard. How he caught Mundungus Fletcher stealing it and couldn't stop him from running away. Harry felt sick as he listened to the tale. For the second time tonight, he found himself swallowing bile as his insides fought to get outside.

"Kreacher was a good elf who did everything he could to follow his master's orders. I'm very glad you told me all of that. Just a few more questions and you should be able to go home. OK?" Kreacher nodded miserably as the snot poured down his face from his snout-like nose. "Can you describe the locket that Regulus took out of the basin?"

"Oh, yes. It was big and gold and had an S on the f-f-front that looked like a s-s-snake, and it would not open."

"Thank you, Kreacher. You did really well." Harry made eye contact with Dumbledore and Snape who had left Harry to deal with his elf through this long tale. After getting an infinitesimal nod from Snape, Harry continued, "Kreacher, when you can, you can go home. Whenever you feel up to it again, you can go back to working at Hogwarts. OK?"

Kreacher nodded even more miserably and with a last hiccupping sob, popped away. "Well, that was enlightening."

"Indeed, Harry. You dealt with that situation quite well." All of Dumbledore's customary twinkle was gone. "I will find Dung and locate the locket. We, at least, don't have to decide who is going to drink that potion this time. Shall we go back as we came in?"

Within a remarkably short time, the three of them were back out in the fresh air outside the cave and apparating to the bedroom in the Shrieking Shack they had left from. Harry was still in a fog as he walked back into the castle and took off the disillusionment spell he had applied before climbing out of the tree. Snape appeared next to him and took hold of his arm.

"I'll take care of Harry, Albus. You contact Fletcher."

Moments later, Harry was sitting in Snape's sitting room in the chair he had duplicated so everyone could sit and share tea after they had made potions. A vial was thrust into his hand, and Snape convinced him to consume the Strengthening Solution. Harry started to feel more alert almost as soon as it hit his stomach.

"Thank you, sir." He handed back the empty vial. "Would you mind if I sit here for a little bit longer? I don't want to go to Draco's or the Tower just yet. Too many questions."

"You can rest for as long as you need to. Would you like to play a round of chess or read a book? I think that some distraction would be best to get your mind back on track."

"Chess would be good, sir. But you may need to play a few rounds. I always lose really quickly when I play Ron."

"If I have to trounce you repeatedly in chess, I am willing to make that sacrifice for the greater good."

Harry had never been so glad to see that raised eyebrow. He snorted. "You're a humanitarian, sir."

"Indeed."

#

_AN: All of the details that I included (and all those I skipped over since I assume you've read the books) about the cave and Kreacher's story are, of course, from the last two books. I based the quantity of the potion they could safely drink on how long it took before Dumbledore was obviously affected in HBP._

#

Exams were almost a breeze after all the work Harry had put in this year. In what seemed no time at all, Harry and the rest of the students were sitting in the Great Hall for the Leaving Feast. Harry looked around the room at all the students who were (rightly) being protected from so much of the effort to bring down Voldemort and his followers. They all chatted excitedly with no idea of how much effort had been put into keeping them safe this year. Even his closest friends didn't know about the Horcruxes.

He wished he could be sheltered from the idea of a wizard evil enough to split his soul into seven pieces in his search for immortality but knew it wasn't to be. Instead, he would need to keep looking for those pieces. Harry wasn't sure if he would need to destroy all the Horcruxes, but he was sure he would have a hand in it. Then, he would have to destroy the small piece of Tom Riddle still walking around and looking mostly human. Harry looked up at the Head Table when he felt Headmaster Dumbledore looking at him. The Headmaster smiled and raised his glass slightly in salute.

Harry was glad he wasn't alone in this fight. He had his teachers, his friends, and the whole Order to rely on. He knew he could do it with a bit of help.

The End


End file.
